Lots of green changes hands each year at the Dublin Irish Festival.
Merchants from central Ohio – and from much farther reaches – come to the Festival to sell their wares.
Visitors will find two types of vendors. Those in Emerald Arts Isle are artists and artisans and bring handmade goods and artwork. Marketplace vendors sell Celtic-themed goods, including many Irish-made and imported items. For this year’s Festival, scheduled for Aug. 1-3, 97 merchants are confirmed – 35 Emerald Arts Isle and 62 Marketplace vendors.
Ha’penny Bridge Imports of Ireland is likely a familiar name to Dublin, Ohio; the year-round shop of that name, operated by Al and Anne Gleine, is in Historic Dublin.
The Gleines and Ha’penny were both part of the Festival separately before the couple bought the business in 1998. Anne and Al owned the Irish Peddler, an Irish-themed gift shop that used to be within a Dublin hotel, and participated in the Festival as its owners. Ha’penny has been a Festival vendor even longer.
“Ever since it’s been possible to be at the Festival in a booth, Ha’penny has been there selling,” Anne says.
The couple took up the gift shop business after their marriage 31 years ago – a second marriage for both – because they wanted the flexibility to spend time with their children, who are now grown.
The shop sells a variety of Celtic-themed goods, many of which are made in Ireland. One item Anne expects will be popular this year is a kelly green “Dublin, Ohio USA” T-shirt, which was designed and screen printed in Ireland. Other hot items include jewelry. This year she’s featuring glass ball earrings.
Anne is a member of the Festival’s Emerald Arts Isle and Marketplace Committee, helping with the selection of vendors.
“(We) are trying to increase the quality in keeping with the Irish taste and culture,” Anne says.
The Ha’penny store is almost as busy as the booth during the Festival weekend, Anne says. She runs the booth while Al mans the shop and the two have a friendly competition to see who sells more.
“I think I won last year,” Anne says. “I do know that the year before it was really close to being a tie. It was within a few dollars, which was amazing.”
The Festival has also been a great monetary success for Wayne Cruze of Celtic Carving, based in Worthington.
“Last year we sold between 30 and 40 pieces at the Irish Festival, which is fantastic,” says Cruze, who has been hand-carving wood for 26 years and selling at the Festival since 1999.
Cruze started out carving Santa Clauses, but developed an interest in carving Celtic knot work when his daughter started Irish dance lessons at Richens/Timm Academy. As a stay-at-home father – which was unusual at the time – he had the time to pursue his hobby and has since turned it into a full-time profession for both himself and his wife, Ann(e?). She does all of the sanding, staining and finishing on his pieces.
Cruze, an Emerald Arts Isle vendor and member of the organizing committee, sells a variety of wooden items, such as boxes, Lazy Susans and wine glass holders, all hand-carved with Celtic knots. The items are produced by friends of his.
“They build and I’m the carver,” Cruze says. “If I had to do it all, it wouldn’t happen.”
Prices range from $45 for a small box to $315 for a backgammon set. And Cruze hasn’t completely ditched his love of Santas; he sells pencils carved with the likenesses of Santa, Uncle Sam or a leprechaun for $10 each.
Last year was the first year at the Festival for Matt Lowe’s Madmor Creations. Lowe, who has been in business for about three and a half years, makes hand-painted wooden signs. The Delaware, Ohio-based business was an about face from his previous role as an investment banker, but Lowe says it was a return to his roots.
“My major at (the Columbus College of Art and Design) was illustration. I did everything from logo design (to) political cartooning-type stuff. Whatever was needed.”
After graduating, he did design and graphics for a few years until he moved into mortgages, then banking.
“I’ve kind of gone full circle,” says Lowe, who is of Irish descent. “It’s given me the opportunity to celebrate my heritage and do things I love. It’s been great.”
The sign business grew out of Lowe’s hobby of restoring and painting antique furniture. “I started doing everything from kids stuff to murals. I did whatever I could do, and it seemed that it got more narrow and eventually became strictly Irish-themed stuff, outside of the custom orders.”
The name “Madmor” is a mash-up of his daughters’ names – Madison and Morgan.
Lowe’s signs are painted on reclaimed lumber and are typically pub-themed.
“Everything is cut, sanded and hand-painted. It has a minimum of three coats of paint and is sealed,” he says. “We take a lot of pride in making sure it has that vintage pub feel – something you would find in Brazenhead or a pub in Dublin, Ireland.”
Though he’s participated in other festivals as a vendor, Lowe says the Dublin Irish Festival is by far the best.
“I knew it was going to be great, but it exceeded our expecations,” he says. “It felt like (the organizers) appreciated a local vendor, and they made us feel at home. … It was terrific.”
Cruze, who has been a member of the Emerald Arts Isle and Marketplace committee for about seven years, routinely participates in other festivals throughout mid-America.
“There’s nothing like the Dublin Irish Festival,” he says.
Gleine says she enjoys the Festival as much as her customers do.
“I love the people, and it’s a wonderful event,” she says. “There are so many different aspects of Irish culture that you’ll find there and you’ll also find some of the American flavor.”
The drawback of being a vendor? “Not being able to go and enjoy the dancers and the music so much,” Gleine says.
Lisa Aurand is editor of Dublin Life Magazine. Feedback welcome at laurand@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Making Way
Park expansion opens up Festival possibilities
Regulars should notice more than a little extra elbow room at the Dublin Irish Festival this year.
With the expansion of Coffman Park, the Festival is growing from 29 to 38 acres, making it the largest three-day Irish Festival on the planet, says Dublin Events Administrator Mary Jo DiSalvo.
The grounds are expanding southward toward the Celtic Rock field. A permanent bridge across the creek replaces the temporary bridge that had been erected annually for the Festival and connects the southern end of the park to the northern end. These changes are just the first phase in a five-year plan to expand and improve the park, DiSalvo says.
“It will be more of a slight movement this year, more guest comfort kinds of space,” she says. “We’ll move things that we think will alleviate congestion for guests and make it more navigable and make wayfinding easier throughout the grounds.”
The parade of Irish organizations that kicks off the Festival and has traditionally started from the East Gate will likely start from the southern end of the park and cross the bridge to showcase the expansion, DiSalvo says.
Among the host of new draws at the Festival will be a hurley stick maker. A craftsman will show festival-goers how he creates the wooden sticks which are used in the Irish sport of hurling.
“It’s an art in and of itself,” DiSalvo says.
Other Highlights:
- Sharon Shannon, an Irish folk musician
- The return of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, who will perform on two nights
- The farewell tour of Black 47, long-time Festival favorite
- 10 new Marketplace vendors, including Twisted Sister Crochet, which makes Irish dancer clothing for dolls
- Seven new food vendors
- The 34th annual Columbus Feis, the Irish dance competition that was the impetus for the Festival’s creation
- For more information, visit www.dublinirishfestival.org.
