Seattle Center Festál Irish Festival Lineup Announced

Seattle Center Festál presents Irish Week Festival, 12 p.m. - 6 p.m., March 16 and 10 a.m. - 6 p.m, March 17, in Seattle Center Armory. Explore and experience the cultural roots and contemporary influences of Ireland through live performances, visual arts, hands-on activities, foods, games, and a lively marketplace.

Irish tunes, step dancing and the Irish jig keep the energy flowing at this community wide Irish Festival. Event-goers may trace their roots in genealogy workshops, learn the Irish language and take in colorful cultural exhibits and contemporary Irish short films. Meet Irish celebraties, view Irish movies, cultural exhibits and demonstrations and have a "great craic" (gaelic for "a great time").

Unique in 2013, Irish Festival presents:

PRESENTATION AND DISPLAY ON C. S. LEWIS - This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death on Nov. 22, 1963 of Irishman C. S. Lewis. Few authors of fantasy literature are as beloved as Lewis, who was born in Belfast on Nov. 29, 1898. He is regarded as one of Ireland's foremost writers and Christian thinkers. His children's novel, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was made into a movie in 2005.

ARTIST DEMO - Seattle artist Sheila Newman will demonstrate watercolor painting and how she draws Irish scenes and landscapes.

HISTORY LECTURE - Historian David McCourt lectures on two major Irish anniversaries, the 1913 lock-out and strike that was the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history and the 1963 visit of John F. Kennedy to his ancestral homeland just five months before his assassination.

Seattle Center Festál, a series of 22 celebrations presented by community organizations in partnership with Seattle Center, considers themes of importance to ethnic cultures in our region, revealing their common forms of tradition and expression, while highlighting their unique contributions to the Pacific Northwest and the world.

Irish Festival is produced in partnership with Irish Heritage Club of Seattle. For more information on Irish Festival, visit www.irishclub.org. Click on www.seattlecenter.com or call 206 684-7200 to learn more about Seattle Center Festál and other outstanding public programming offered at Seattle Center.

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