Haylie Robinson: The dogs, right?

The dogs.

We were always here for the dogs.

I am.

I'm Haylie Robinson.

And I'm a former bear queen full of wanderlust.

I explore art, culture, community, heritage, history and more.

One festival at a time.

I invite you to join me in finding festivals.

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Toledo.

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Celtic.

Culture has always fascinated me, which is why I'm bringing you to Dublin, Ohio for the Irish Festival.

This annual event is hosted on the first weekend of August and is said to be the second largest Irish festival in the United States.

I'm many there.

I noticed something a little different about this corn field and decided to connect with David.

Join to learn more.

David we need to address the elephant in the room or I guess the corn in the fields.

What is this all about?

David Guion: Well, it's really a tribute to the agrarian or the agriculture in the area.

The gentleman who farmed this land was Sam France, and he was specializing in hybridization of corn, so making it more resilient.

And so this is pretty resilient corn.

Haylie Robinson: This is concrete, correct?

David Guion: Yes, it's concrete.

It's six foot three inches tall.

Haylie Robinson: So not not exactly short.

David Guion: Yeah, right.

And it's 1500 pounds for each.

And there are 109 of them.

Haylie Robinson: So you have 109 concrete corn.

That's 1500 pounds each.

How many trucks did it take to get here?

David Guion: Well, four semis and it's it was a little bit of a feat to put them in the ground.

Haylie Robinson: So I would say, what exactly would you say this is really say about Dublin?

It's a mean it's a pretty big piece.

You can't miss it when you drive by.

Right?

Right.

David Guion: Right.

Well, if you look carefully, the corn is positioned in the rows of the cemetery in Arlington.

So it's like the death of the agriculture or the cornfield and the rise of suburbia.

Haylie Robinson: Okay, so it's kind of paying homage to the past, but celebrating the current and future.

David Guion: Exactly.

Haylie Robinson: We were talking before there was conversation of, you know, some people have different opinions of it.

But, yes, it sounds like, you know, there's a deeper understanding and it almost brings a better appreciation for it.

David Guion: That's exactly right.

Yeah.

Once you learn about the piece of public art and where it's place because it is site specific, it makes a huge difference in understanding the work.

Haylie Robinson: I'm assuming you've been to the Irish Fest, which is why we're in town.

David Guion: Yes, absolutely.

Haylie Robinson: And what are your thoughts on that?

What does that mean to you?

David Guion: Where all art is important?

So performing arts and dance, where lovers of of all art.

And so we love that they can bring dancers in from all over the world acts on, you know, musical acts from all over the world.

Haylie Robinson: So and they come from like Ireland and even Scotland, right?

David Guion: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I have the best to the best.

Haylie Robinson: The best, the best coming all the way to Dublin Ohio, where there's a big corn fields art structure, right?

David Guion: Yes, absolutely.

Haylie Robinson: So they know the fast and then come take a picture with a big corn.

David Guion: Yes.

Yeah.

Please.

Please come and enjoy.

Haylie Robinson: Based on the festivities of the weekend.

One would assume Dublin's heritage is deeply rooted in Ireland.

Before I go digging for more history on Dublin, Ohio, I need to head to Bridge Park for some caffeine.

Seeing a few ingredients, but Oak.

Oak, you said.

So this is the.

Oh, yeah.

It has orange chocolate and chocolate dots on top.

It's amazing, but it's just the same or anything.

It smells really good.

You are speaking my language.

Beautiful.

Oh, my goodness.

Look at that.

There's a garnish.

Well, now that I got my coffee, let's go explore the Dublin market a little bit more, obviously.

You know, I love how many dogs there are here.

It just it warms my heart.

The community of Dublin is very welcoming.

I asked Tom Holton, past president of the Dublin Historical Society, if this is due to the Irish roots.

And he said.

Tom Holton: Not at all.

Not at all.

Everybody asked that question and I got a couple of questions a year from people who are so-called sightseeing.

Can you tell me about the Irish heritage in Dublin?

I say I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there.

There is none.

Haylie Robinson: There is none.

It was not settled by anyone from from Ireland.

Tom Holton: It's not settled by anyone from Ireland.

It was settled by Germans, predominantly by Germans and some English people.

Maybe one or two Swiss people.

But the Germans came from some directly from Germany, because there are already some Germans here.

But most of the most of the early settlers came from Pennsylvania.

The story about how Dublin got its name.

There's one Irishman, John Shields was his name and he was a surveyor.

He was hired to survey land all up and down the the west side of the of the river, which was the Virginia military grant land.

John Sells said Since you did the work of plotting mental health slots, I'll let you name the town.

And John's Shields said, since I since you gave me an honorable name.

And after my hometown, Dublin, Ireland.

And that's how I got his name.

Haylie Robinson: And so it did get its name from Ireland.

Tom Holton: From an Irishman.

Haylie Robinson: From an Irishman.

Now, you are the past president of the Historical Society.

How did you get into that role to begin with?

Tom Holton: That's a good question.

I've been with historians, sorry for gosh, I think since the mid 1990s.

And in one capacity or another and just fell deeply in love with the history because of the of the local historian.

All of those people who were so deeply engaged in this house and telling the stories, the they knew the history and they were so engaging in the way they told it that I just knew I needed to be involved.

So I started learning the stories and got involved with the society.

This is the 35th anniversary of the Dublin Irish Festival.

But how did it start?

What kind of birth?

The idea of yeah, let's let's put this together.

Tom Holton: Just started on a tennis court and a couple of tents.

It was a very small.

So it was probably something like a an Irish marketplace.

But they wanted to have a Irish centered, Irish culture centered event.

After all, we're Dublin.

It was great.

Everybody went round exaggerating, but a lot of people went.

It was just very because the village is small, let 10,000 people to it's 50,000 people.

So it was small, fun, intimate.

Haylie Robinson: So would you say Kauffman Park is kind of the central gathering place or one of the central gathering place in Dublin?

Tom Holton: Oh, absolutely.

Phil Silvers, central to to to the city.

And not incidentally, we're in the city, in the Kauffman House, which is part of the legacy of the Carlton family.

It was important to his the legacy of the family to sell some of the land and keep some of the land as parkland adjacent to the house.

So there are roughly 35 acres as parkland right here.

That includes the house here on the west end of the park.

Haylie Robinson: So you're saying this is 35 acres is where the festival is taking place right now.

That explains all the walking.

Tom Holton: Yeah.

Haylie Robinson: 35 acres of the Dublin Irish Festival calls for a map, especially as a first time attendee like myself.

The city does provide a free app with a map and schedule to all the workshops, performances and other events throughout the weekend.

First on my list is learning more about Celtic music.

Deb Colon: I love polkas because that pulse is so strong in them.

And so wealthy and so lovely.

Ivan Goff: And in the Irish language dinner is is the it it designates this part of the ah.

So you know, it's part of the alcohol but it's this part of the arm more generally.

And then Highland on the other side and this refers to the pipes.

So elbow pipes essentially is well for.

What it translates to.

Haylie Robinson: I tried my hand at the drawing from the Book of Kells workshop and I am not an artist.

This is this is as far as I got.

And I actually think my sheet was upside down.

Aside from the annual festival, there are other Irish spirited activities available in Dublin.

Marketing Director for Visit Dublin Sarah Platt Next shared more about the themed experiences.

Sara Blatnik: Yeah, so we found probably about ten, 12 years ago when we went through a branding process that everybody just naturally associated Dublin with Dublin, Ireland.

And we did have some things already kind of here organically.

A lot of people use shamrocks in their logos.

You know, obviously the Irish Festival started here.

So we have that.

We have a huge St Patrick's Day, so we really started to kind of develop that more and really start to promote it in a way that people could understand that you could get a little bit of, you know, Ireland here in Dublin, Ohio.

Haylie Robinson: I will say welcome to the festival.

You really do get a nice rich cultural taste, bare minimum, you know, of Ireland.

And it's just nice to, you know, kind of immerse yourself in that experience.

Sara Blatnik: Yeah, I think they've done a really great job.

I know they did a lot of research and continue to, you know, take trips to make sure that it really is an authentic experience here at the festival.

So everything from, you know, of course, the music, the food, the Irish dancers, one of my favorites, but then also branching out to things like tracking your genealogy.

And you know, how certain things started, how things are made in the Celtic canines, of course.

The dogs that are from Ireland dogs.

Haylie Robinson: Right.

Yeah.

I mean, we're always here for the dogs, right?

I am not quite sure.

And if you.

Sara Blatnik: Haven't done the Celtic cocktail trail yet, it's a great activity with the Irish festival.

It's a year round activity.

19 Dublin restaurants offer unique Irish themed cocktails.

It's all a digital passport on your phone, so you have it with you all the time.

If you're like me, your phone's always with you and you can go around, check out the dining scene, get the Celtic cocktail, and then you win prizes along the way.

Haylie Robinson: When you get a prize, you do.

And participating in the Celtic Cup?

Sara Blatnik: Yes, ma'am.

Haylie Robinson: I mean, as if I needed more bribery to do it, but I mean, I get free stuff too.

Okay, done.

Sold.

Check.

Where is the next place?

Right.

Okay.

Now I want to try a drink from the Celtic cocktail trail.

We're heading back to Bridge Park to visit Conor Craft Kitchen to learn more about their Celtic Isle from cafe Robin Myers.

Robin Myer:Hey, Robin, how are you?

Great.

Welcome in.

Haylie Robinson: Thank you so much.

So I came in, I heard there's a Celtic cocktail trail and you're going to show us one of the drinks.

Robin Myer: Yeah.

Haylie Robinson: Awesome.

All right, I'm ready to dive right in.

Let's do it.

Robin Myer: Absolutely.

Haylie Robinson: Okay.

Yes.

What you got.

Here?

I have the Celtic Isle.

That was developed by Michael Buckman, the lead bartender here at Conor Craft Kitchen.

The Celtic Isle is a riff on a Laura Keith subbing Irish whiskey for the right and toning down a bit of the tropical fruit with some warm spice.

A little bit about Conor Craft Kitchen.

It's loosely inspired off of the owner's love of traveling and fresh ingredients.

So we pride ourselves here on making as much as we can from scratch.

The bass spirit in this cocktail is Bushmills, so that is really, really smooth and bringing some vanilla florals.

Next up, the Amaro, the Angostura.

This is an herbal liqueur that brings warm spice and a syrupy cola vibe to the cocktail.

And then we have an ounce of the pineapple cordial.

Robin Myer: We make this in-house coconut water, agave and cinnamon.

Next, we have lime juice for shot bitters.

This one's going to add complexity and some star anise to the equation.

And finally, we have a housemade coffee.

Bitter.

Haylie Robinson: Oh, wow.

I did not expect that color at all.

Robin Myer: Yeah.

Haylie Robinson: It's very pretty.

And the presentation.

I love it.

Robin Myer: Celtic.

Haylie Robinson: I'll try it.

It's like kind of with all these different flavors.

Robin Myer: I'm curious, Moment of truth.

I definitely can taste the coffee better with the vanilla forward taste.

I do have that floral pick up as well.

Robin Myer: Yeah.

Haylie Robinson: And I mean the Irish whiskey, as you said, is very smooth either.

Robin Myer: So to me, what a well-made drink is, is it brings balance.

It may excite you and take you somewhere, but really it's meant to be enjoyed or be comforting.

It's either refreshing on a warm day or, you know, comforting when you need it most.

Haylie Robinson: Cheers to that.

Robin Myer: Yeah.

Cheers.

Haylie Robinson: Enjoy walking around the festival.

Attendees will quickly understand just how massive this is.

I met up with Community Events director Alison LeRoy to better understand the planning for a festival this size and how it's all funded.

How long have you been part of this organization?

Alison LeRoy: This is actually my 25th festival, so I've been at all except for the first ten.

So I have seen this festival grow tremendously.

So it's just been a great fun time for me to see that.

Haylie Robinson: And how long does it take for you to prep a huge event like.

Alison LeRoy: This?

Well, we definitely planned for over a year.

We're already making notes what we're doing next year, those kind of things.

But really, we actually start building.

So we basically build a city in the park.

So it takes us about three weeks to put it up and two weeks to tear down.

Wow.

Haylie Robinson: it feels like I'm walking around the city because like my miles are racking up.

What kind of impact does this festival have or better yet, how are you able to fund it?

Alison LeRoy: What's really interesting is unlike a lot of festivals, we're actually funded by the city, so it was started by a community organization and the city took it on.

The city was really small and growing at that point and knew they needed a community festival and because this festival had already been around for a couple of years, they sort of took over it.

So we actually fund it through our hotel, motel bed tax and then that's our kind of our funding source.

But what's great about that too, is we have all these great sponsors, all these great partners that then we're able to put money back into that hotel, motel tax, and then we can use it for other things throughout the city.

Haylie Robinson: That's incredible shows.

Really shocking, for sure.

Oh, it definitely.

And it brings a. Alison LeRoy: Tremendous amount of economic boom through this weekend.

Yeah.

And you know, we have people from all over the world, but really, you know, we have a strong presence here, especially from the state surrounding it.

But there are those people who follow some of these Irish bands up all home, anywhere.

So we've got people from as far away as Texas, Florida, all over the place.

They come here just to see all these bands.

Haylie Robinson: That Oh yeah.

I mean, we had a wonderful lineup.

We got to check out the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Alison LeRoy: Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

They're crazy.

Haylie Robinson: They were.

They were.

ALison LeRoy: Amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Haylie Robinson: Heading back toward the middle of the festival, we spot an 11th century battle breakdown between the Irish and Vikings.

Stephen Hayes: For the Irish to be where it was by year end 14 without a contract, like when Brian Boru broke the power of his cap.

So far in Norse in art, we were able to assimilate what happened.

And so we were kept to a culture, kept to a religion, and all these things were for figures for much of British history.

Those things you're at risk or lost where it doesn't like invasions.

Haylie Robinson: Okay.

So but so is that because it was kind of war with Viking?

I mean, I notice the military wear kind of looks similar to it.

Stephen Hayes: Well, yes, because it was back and forth.

So we borrowed from them.

They borrowed from us.

We borrowed us.

See, one of the things Ireland didn't have original was we used quilted armors before the Viking invasions, but eventually we like to kill enough Viking of second rate bodies for the change.

And you ended up with that.

And of course people give gifts back and forth and that's a very rich and powerful gift.

Haylie Robinson: Father Hayes is knowledgeable in 11th century Ireland and also leads a Catholic mass in Gaelic language.

One thing I think that's really unique about the Dublin Irish Festival is on Sunday mornings they actually hold several different church services throughout the park and I think it's so special that they are able to bring the community together and reserve some time for religious practice.

We learned the Irish Festival began on a tennis court.

Let's speak with John, Tim, co-owner Rich and Tim's academy and certified instructor and adjudicator of Irish Step, who was a performer at the first Dublin Irish Festival.

John Timm: And I was there from the very beginning and you know, like, no, what it came from and it's absolutely amazing where it is.

So it started on a Sunday afternoon in Kaufman Park on the tennis courts, and there was one stage on the night before that there was a ceilidh dance, which was a social dance for people to get together.

And everyone who came like pulled their cars around the stage and had their headlights on so that it could be lit.

Right.

And then the next day was a dance off where all the winners from the Columbus Fish the day before came over, and then they danced against each other for one more prize.

And I actually won that dance off.

And then after that dance off was the very first concert with one band on one stage, and it was the Mick Moloney and his greenfields of America.

From there we are at, you know, 100 plus thousand people at the festival.

Haylie Robinson: I'm loving how just vivid this story is.

I mean, you even told us right down to the band that was there.

John Timm: Oh, yes.

I mean, truly, that that first gathering was impactful enough to today attract over 100,000 people.

John Timm:Amazing.

Haylie Robinson: Now, one thing I did notice is so I studied dance in my past, about 14 years of it.

Although I'm more of a hip hop dancer, I always noticed the shoes sound different than a tap shoe.

John Timm: They are.

Haylie Robinson: What's the secret?

John Timm: So tap shoe has a metal tap on the toe piece and.

And the heel piece and Irish dancing.

We dance with a fiberglass toe piece and like a tap would be very thin.

And the Irish toe pieces, you know, almost three quarters of an inch big.

It's a molded fiberglass tip and super hard, but it makes incredible sounds.

It's a it's a much thicker, much heavier sound than a tap is like a little bit tinny because it's metal.

But you can get a really great sound clarity with Irish dance shoes.

Haylie Robinson: I always noticed that because I it just it almost sounds like an extra instrument because it doesn't sound it sounds like you expect to use it more.

John Timm: if you're watching good Irish dancing, in my opinion, that's exactly what it is.

Haylie Robinson: Because music and dance are a huge part of Irish traditions.

I head to the Irish Thunder stage to watch the Academy of Irish Students perform.

Byron Tuttle: I think culturally this dance form is iconic because it really speaks to the soul.

It's the music, it's the heavy hitting bass, it's the percussive power of the hard shoe dancing, which you see a lot in Riverdance.

Lord of the Dance.

The softer style of dancing is up on the toes, sharp and fast.

And I think when you combine the music, the Irish Celtic music with the dance style, it's so thunderous and powerful.

It speaks to people, it motivates them, it gets them on their feet, it sends tingles down your spine.

And I think that that has resonated with audiences around the world for decades now, and especially since Riverdance and Lord of the Dance came onto the scene.

Haylie Robinson: What got you into Irish Step Dance?

Byron Tuttle: In 1994?

I was about 11 years old and I saw Riverdance on VHS for the very first time, and I absolutely loved it.

And my family took me to the local class, got me involved, and I hit the ground running when I was 17, I was accepted into Michael Flatley's show Lord of the Dance.

I toured for a few years with the show and then became a teacher, opened up a class in Birmingham with my partner Edward Searle in 2007.

Ultimately, we felt that the best decision for us personally was to move back to my hometown.

We've reestablish the school in Columbus for the last ten years.

We're here when.

Haylie Robinson: It comes to teaching.

What kind of called you into that aspect?

Byron Tuttle funny thing is my siblings and I joke that I was a teacher before I was even a dancer because I would come home from dancing class even as a beginner, and I would teach them all the steps.

I would get my cousins over to the house and teach them everything I was learning as I was learning it myself.

I love working with young children.

I love working with young adults, watching them learn, watching them grow, put together teams and shows and watching our solo dancers progress.

I think being a teacher is what I've always wanted to do.

It's no surprise that I've ended up where I am.

Haylie Robinson: Now, though it takes many years to master.

I learned a few steps from Heather Tim, co-owner of the Rich Intense Irish Dance Academy and certified instructor and adjudicator of Irish Step.

How did you get into Irish Steps?

So my maiden name is Donovan.

I'm Heather Donovan and I'm Irish-American.

I have Irish heritage, so and I'm the middle of five.

All of us Irish danced at some point, and so it just was in our family.

And yeah, like my dad from the anti-Irish dancing and I've at six and I've never stopped it sounds like it you just keep going and okay so first thing we do is cross over over and then kick out and then we go back one, two, three, four, and then we repeat that sequence three times.

So cross over and out and back.

Two, three, four.

Cross over and out and back.

Two, three, four, cross over and out.

Back, two, three, four.

Oh, you're now all right.

Yes.

Okay, social.

We do it all together, put it all together and cross it up back to three, four crossover and up and back to three, four then up, up and back into two, three, four.

I almost got it.

Yeah, you did a very good job.

Quick learner.

Now that I've got a few steps down, let's test them out.

At the Caley Dam stage.

This stage is located on the tennis courts where the annual event began and continues Ceilidh Dance Traditions by inviting all to join in.

This dance was simple but would speed up after every combo, making it both fun and exhausting, not to mention how hot it was in the tent.

Note Bring plenty of water and maybe a hose to cool off afterward.

Oh you.

Another cool workshop to check out is Celtic Cooking featuring chef Eric McBride.

And yes, you do get a sample after the course.

Eric McBride: I enjoy some great other cooking today.

So first of all, you didn't know this how the cuisine is divided between the eight Celtic nations and so now we're going to be doing something out of our Irish cookbook, a Guinness Talk.

We're going to take you we're going to be talking about nothing but desserts, Celtic desserts.

A lot of difficulty.

I know you're dying for some chocolate cake.

Yes.

Let's go.

Big shaking hands here for.

Haylie Robinson: I have been excited for this all day long.

So there's like a frosting on it.

And then, of course, the chocolate cake.

So here we go.

Everything.

I dreamed of that being delivered, whether you visit for the annual festival or enjoy with the city, has to offer.

Dublin, Ohio is rich in heritage, community and Irish attitude.

I'm Hayley and I look forward to even more fun at the next festival we find you can visit finding festivals dotcom to learn more about the series, get updates through the digital newsletter and connect with me on social media where you can access more content on festival fun with me.

Yeah, so hey, how you doing?

You know, it's a go park trail, Celtic cocktail trail.

That's Tommy Constant.

I can't do it.

My lines are right here.

Why am I not seeing this?

I'm not an Irish dancer, so I try to control myself.

It's just so hard, right?

Yes.

Right.

Yeah.

Finding festivals is brought to you in part by Find some Lake Erie Love?

It's a SHORE thing!

Learn how at SHORESandISLANDS.com and start an adventure today.

Toledo.

More than you ever imagined.

Learn more at visittoledo.org.