♥ Louisville Irish Fest ♥

This weekend, the Louisville Irish Fest was held at Bellarmine University.

With an enrollment just shy of 3,000 students, Bellarmine is a small, private Catholic University and is located in the Highlands area of Louisville. The campus is really pretty. It is set among rolling hills and tree-lined streets. It is particularly pretty when the leaves start changing colors. (Photo below from Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project - shows Bellarmine in the foreground with downtown Louisville and the Ohio River in the background.)

Bellarmine was opened in 1959 as Bellarmine College. It was changed to University status in 2000. On the campus is the W.L. Lyons Brown Library, which houses the Thomas Merton Collection. It is the largest collection of the Trappist monk's works. By 2020, the University hopes to triple enrollment, expand the campus, and add more Masters and Doctoral programs.

The Festival was held in the quadrangle of the campus, which is the main area between all the academic buildings. I didn't realize how small the campus really is until I looked at this campus map.

I arrived around noon, and at that point, things were just starting to get geared up for the day. I wandered around the yard, following the sound of music (not the movie...lol) and watching some medieval fighting along the way.

I eventually found the source of the music...a band called NeedFire. They performed some traditional music and some more upbeat rock music, as well. I listened to the band play for a bit and had fun watching the two cute kids sitting in front of me.

My next stop was to see some puppies!!! BIG puppies! They were Irish Wolfhounds, one of the tallest dog breeds in the world. I asked the owner about how much they weighed...140 lbs! And these were small ones! They are very gentle, loyal, and sweet dogs. According to Wikipedia, it is believed that they were introduced into Ireland in 3500 B.C. and were used to aid in wolf hunting.

I strolled along the covered walkway looking at all the vendors' shops that were set up to sell homemade jewelry and other items.

The food smelled SOOOOO good!!

There was a small culture and history display inside Wyatt Hall chronicling the history of Ireland, as well as the history of Irish communities in Louisville. I stepped inside for a quick peek.

I went back outside and was pleasantly surprised to see a girl dancing to some Irish music!

The Festival was starting to get busier and I could tell that people were having a great time! The weather could not have been more perfect, either! It was a clear, sunny, cool early Fall day! I had a little more time to kill, so I wandered back to the other end of the quad to listen to more of NeedFire.

I ran into my friend JJ and he told me that NeedFire is a Dallas based group! No wonder I liked them! Lol! JJ had taken some promo photos and he had some prints from the shoot with him...they were awesome! We listened to the end of NeedFire's set, and then it was time for me to head out for the next event on my schedule.







She was dancing!

The Irish Fest was a blast! I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the music. It is definitely a must-do again next year! It makes me wish I could be Irish! :)