Here’s a message from our friendly Volunteer Administrator, Christine:

Confirmation packets are being mailed out this week and next week.  We love that volunteers get so anxious this time of year; it keeps us hopping, which is one of the many reasons we call our volunteers the “finest team of volunteers ever assembled.”  We’re ahead of the game with recruitment and registration-800 to date.  Only 400 more to go!  Tell your friends to get on line and apply to volunteer! 

Mary Jo DiSalvo, our marketing guru shared this behind-the-scenes look at the production for our new tv spots – sound like they are going to be a lot of fun

Behind the Scenes at the DIF TV production

7:30 a.m.  GFS Marketplace…Shoot begins.  Katie Regan, known from her days in Riverdance, directs four of her young students, to dance down the store aisle when Director Kyle Hickman, gives the nod.  After several takes, the dancers get in line behind a cash register, for another quick shot.  All goes well thanks to Dave Plantz and the 10TV crew.

9:30 a.m.  Coffman Park Amphitheater…Violinist with Mohawk, aka Shayne Underwood, arrives.  He plays his heart out time and again until the crew decides it’s pure perfection.  But wait, Shayne has brought along his own version of “mini-me.”  The Cult Marketing crew decides to see what the same shot looks like with mini-me dancing to the sound of the violin.

Lunch…at Tim Hortons, a Festival sponsor.  The crew discuss the events of the morning and make plans for the two remaining shots of a caber toss and Celtic Canines.

12:30 p.m.   Telephone pole in front of the Dublin Schools Administration Building.  Glenn Hagan, a DIF committee member arrives in a kilt and a T-shirt ready to take one for the team.  He tries to lift the telephone pole out of the ground and finally gives up in a sweat!  A teenager on a bike, (Mason Hickman, Kyle’s son) passes by and asks Glen if he needs help.

2:30 p.m.   Green, shady area behind the Schools Administration Building on Coffman Rd.  10TV Crew sets up and three Celtic Canines arrive with owners including DIF committee member Maggie Snow.  Dogs are beautiful Wheaten Terriers who are staged to react to (bark at) a stuffed sheep.

After countless futile attempts to get a bark, the crew goes to Plan B…an adorable red haired boy who saves the shot.

Watch for the spots on WBNS 10TV and Time Warner Cable beginning July 13.

It’s time for the Dublin Irish Festival Stout to make it’s debut in some local restaurants and bars – I’ve been counting the days.

The complete list of locations can be found here. It is a real treat to be able to try the brew before the Festival  – some people will remember that we actually sold out of the Stout on-site last year - this year they have ordered even more to try and make sure that won’t happen.

Having this beer made especially for us really is a big deal – it is the first time that Coors has made a beer specifically for an event and let us name it. The beer is brewed in their microbrewery at Coors field and shipped to Superior Beverage here in Central Ohio. Mike Riggs, our fearless rep. from Superior Beverage tells us they are putting labels on it and getting ready to ship it out to all of our locations. Should be on tap by tomorrow, July 1.

We’ve even talked to Jeni’s Ice Cream about possibly making it into a special DIF Stout Ice Cream – we’ll keep you posted on that, but I wouldn’t mind being a taste-tester.

We’ve just posted the schedules for this year’s cultural tents.

One of the things we’ve done differently on the music workshops this year is have a schedule for Friday night – in the past we have always felt people have been more interested in going to one of the entertainment stages, now we feel that the music workshops has become a destination on it’s own.

We’re also excited to have some of the members of the Young Wolfetones doing individual music workshops, its a great change to get up close and personal with these top musicians.

The Spoken Word tent is once again hosting the popular Friday night Storyteller Roundtable, it’s fun just to watch where this session takes some of our best storytellers.

We are also happy to welcome our friend Batt Burns back to the Festival. He has a new book out which you can find at Barnes and Noble

Ok, hopefully you have had a chance to check out the Columbus Zoo’s excellent “No More #2” video – well, we may need to make one of our own now.

We picked up Columbus Monthlytoday and while ComFest is still rated #1 by readers, the mag said “the Dublin Irish Festival made a strong move” – that shows that you, our loyal fans really support the Festival – thanks!

We’re also happy Dublin was named best suburb and the Field of Corn was named best public artwork.