At the heart of journalist Mark Bulik’s exhaustively researched book, “Ambush at Central Park: When the IRA Came to New York,” there is the story of a bold plot to kill an informer, one Patrick Joseph “Cruxy” O’Connor, who had…

We're hosting our 25th annual Wren Party on St. Stephen's Day … 7 p.m. on Dec. 26 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 235 Limekiln Pike in Glenside. But not everyone can make it to the party – especially if…

Extend your Christmas holiday. Come celebrate the feast of St. Stephen in a uniquely Irish way the following day, Dec. 26. 

You can join the revelry with the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (pronounced COAL-tus KYOL-TOR-ee AIR-in). CCÉ…

By Katherine Ball-Weir

Jeff Meade, chairman of CCÉ Philadelphia-Delaware Valley, is joining the 2024 Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame. 

The Hall of Fame dates back to 2001, when Tommy Moffit, the late, great Philadelphia Irish musician and longtime radio…

Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde hails from Ghaoth Dobhair (Gweedore) in the Donegal Gaelteacht, an area renowned for the preservation of Irish language and song.  Doimnic grew up blessed by the wealth of tradition around him.  His earliest local influences included…

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This fabulous new Irish traditional band founded by Lexie Boatright (concertina and harp), Jake James (fiddle), Cara Wildman (bodhrán and dance), and Ryan Ward (piano and piano accordion) appears in a special Comhaltas-sponsored concert Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, at 7…

Extend your Christmas holiday. Come celebrate the feast of St. Stephen in a uniquely Irish way the following day, December 26. 

You can join the revelry with the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (pronounced COAL-tus KYOL-TOR-ee AIR-in). CCÉ…

Friends, family members, and traditional Irish musicians from far and wide gathered for an all-star session June 3 at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley, Malvern, Pa., to celebrate the life of Joe Reavy, son of the prolific composer…

The children of families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia’s University City often face difficult health issues, with both physical and emotional impacts. The goal of the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is to provide lodging, meals and…

The Mid-Atlantic Fleadh is scheduled for May 12-14 in Parsippany, N.J. Registration is now open.

The Fleadh registration deadline is April 10. Payments and/or registrations received after April 10 will be subject to a $50 late fee.  

A block…

The 2023 Comhaltas Philadelphia-Delaware Valley Kevin McGillian Annual General Meeting Ceili will take place Sunday, September 10, from 3-5 p.m. at the Irish Center. The AGM will take place in conjunction with the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Ceili Og, a dance…

Joseph Martin Reavy, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, son of Philadelphia’s renowned “plumber of hornpipes,” Ed Reavy, died January 13, 2023. He was 95.

Joe was the recipient of Mid-Atlantic Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s Gradam Comaoine/Outstanding Contribution Award, conferred at the 2019 Comhaltas…

Two years after the pandemic closed off any possibility of Comhaltas Philadelphia-Delaware Valley hosting its annual St. Stephen’s Day Wren Party, the event returned for 2022. 

With attendees filling the hall and taking up all the tables, it was a…

Check out our nifty new poster. All the details there. If you have an idea off the top of your head for a wren hat to help celebrate the feast of St. Stephen (December 26), now is the time to…

Extend your Christmas holiday. Come celebrate the feast of St. Stephen in a uniquely Irish way the following day, December 26. 

You can join the revelry with the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (pronounced COAL-tus KYOL-TOR-ee AIR-in). CCÉ…

It’s Sunday, October 9, from 3 to 5 p.m., at the Commodore Barry Arts & Cultural Center, 6815 Emlen Street in Philadelphia’s Mount Airy neighborhood–just a short walk from SEPTA’s Carpenter station.

Hosted in conjunction with the Philadelphia Ceili Group…

It’s St. Stephen’s Day, and we have our Wren Hat Competition Winners! Thank you to all of our contestants who participated this year, and to those folks who reached out with questions and/or promises of participating next year!

Our judges…

Attention all wren boys (and girls, of course). It’s almost time to celebrate the feast of St. Stephen—December 26.

Tradition has it that on that day, the wren boys go from house to house within their towns and villages in…

Given the continuing upward trajectory of covid-19 throughout the Delaware Valley, we are once again taking a pass on an in-person annual general meeting. No worries, though. We are meeting—so to speak—in a video featuring the talents of many of…

CCÉ continues to offer Irish language courses–albeit virtually–for beginner, intermediate and continuing students.

If you’re interested in learning the language of Ireland with instructor Póilín Ní Dhúill, you can sign up on this page.

Details will be provided…

December 26 is the feast day of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

Legend has it that St. Stephen’s hiding place was betrayed by the chattering of a wren.For centuries, the feast day has been recalled in Ireland by the…

The pandemic put the kibosh on our usual plans for the Kevin McGillian Annual General Meeting.

No worries! We went virtual.

Here’s the video:

CCÉ’s Irish language courses are always popular. So it was with some regret that we had to cancel classes in the spring due to the pandemic.

But if you’re still interested in learning the language of Ireland, we have good…