Catskill Mtn Feis

For my Irish dance friends

Hey my friends, The Farrell School of Irish Dance is having a Christmas fundraiser... normally we do a greenery fundraiser but for 2020, Wine seemed more appropriate Think Christmas gifts that can be sent ... or Christmas gifts for ourselves... because we certainly deserve it. The wine is excellent and the company also donates some profits to some very worthwhile charitable causes. All you have to do is click the link and it brings you right to the shopping page Thank you for helping to support the Farrell School

Hey my feis peeps... I apologize some of you have been waiting too long to receive the tshirts that you ordered... no one has been complaining but I’ve been feeling bad for making you wait. I finished up more orders today and they’ll be sent out in the morning... the few remaining orders I have, I’m waiting for more info or payment. Anyway, the reason for the delay was two-fold... I ran out of some sizes and had to reorder... and my daughter got married and my mother of the... beautiful bride role had to take precedence Here is a picture of the princess bride, Bridget, and her Prince Charming, David. I’ll get better pics from the photographer and post them Here is an inventory of the shirts I have leftover... Regular tshirts Youth small (8) Youth medium (4) Youth large (7) Adult small (0 but I’m ordering more) Adult medium (0 but I’m ordering more) Adult large (7) Adult XL (7) Adult 2xl (1) Tank tops Adult small (7) Adult medium (10) Adult large (9) Adult XL (10) V-neck Tshirt (they run small) Adult small (5) Adult medium (18) Adult large (19) Adult XL (2) Adult 2XL (5) If you’d still like to order one, please send an email to either [email protected] or [email protected] You can pay Venmo (@Michael-Farrell-66 with a pic of me and my beagle) or PayPal to [email protected] On the Venmo or PayPal payments, please note your name, address and size/quantity. Adult size T-shirts ($18.00) S,M, L, Xl, 2x and 3x ( add $2 for 2+3xl) Children’s size T-shirts ($18.00) Medium, large Adult size tank tops ($23.00) S, M, L, XL Adult size V-neck shirts ($23.00) S, M, L, XL, 2XL (2XL +$2.00) Also, if you ordered a V-neck, I thought they were unisex but the are women’s sizing so they run smaller... send me an email if you’d like to change your size... I apologize for my error

Hey all, in June, the Buffalo feis was honored to host one of the NAFC music championships competitions... when their feis cancelled it went to the Catskill Mtn feis... when Catskill feis cancelled it went to East Durham feis... well now both NAFC music championships will be held at the Pittsburgh Halloween feis on 9/26/20.. The Ed Callahan competition (under 15) will be at 11:00 and the James Brennan competition (over 15 but under 21) will be held at 12:00. Here is the entry... info Hello musicians, The NAFC,Ed Callaghan Junior music championship (under 15 yrs) and the Jim Brennan Senior music championship (over 15-under 21) will be held on September 26th in Pittsburgh, PA at the Pittsburgh Halloween feis. You can enter by emailing your entry information to [email protected] First place receives a check for $500.00 And 2nd place receives a check for $250.00 Winners also awarded a special 1st place sash and a perpetual plaque Please don’t miss out . The entry fee is $10.00 and payable at the feis entry desk on 9/26. See more

The post below is about refunds for East Durham feis but also about delays in the rest of tshirts. This week is all about my daughters wedding so no tshirts will be mailed out this week

Today I felt like a one woman crusader to support the Post Office Most of the Tshirt order was mailed today, I’ll finish up the rest tomorrow.. I’m still waiting for some info from folks Unfortunately, I made an error in judgement ... I thought I could send all the shirts as general mail (not priority) but that’s only good up to 16 ounces, then it has to go priority. From this point forward, I have to change the price of the t-shirts to $18.00 for regular T-shirts and $2...3.00 for tanks and v-necks so I can cover the cost of postage. I’ve got LOTS of T-shirts so let me know if you’d like one. If you send money either Venmo or PayPal, then just put the size/style you’d like and your address in the comment section. Venmo (@michael-Farrell-66) PayPal ([email protected]) Or send me an email to [email protected] Or [email protected] See more

Most of the T-shirts have arrived... I’ll pick up another box later today. Because we thought we could sell these at the, now cancelled, East Durham feis this weekend... I ordered a lot of extras. I was able to lessen the totals before printing but I still have a lot. Michael and I will be packing them up and mailing them later this week. If you’d still like to order one, please send an email to either [email protected] or [email protected] You can pay Venmo (Michae...l-Farrell-66 with a pick of my and my beagle) or PayPal to [email protected] On the Venmo or PayPal payments, please note your name, address and size/quantity. Adult size T-shirts ($15.00) S,M, L, Xl, 2x and 3x ( add $2 for 2+3xl) Children’s size T-shirts ($15.00) Medium, large Adult size tank tops ($20.00) S, M, L, XL Adult size V-neck shirts ($20.00) S, M, L, XL, 2XL (2XL +$2.00) Also, if you ordered a V-neck, I thought they were unisex but the are women’s sizing so they run smaller... send me an email if you’d like to change your size... I apologize for my error

I am truly blessed to have the support of the Irish dance community.. hundreds of encouraging emails, messages, texts and posts yesterday after I announced that the East Durham feis was cancelled. I didn’t think anything could be done but my Irish dance family doesn’t take NO for an answer I also didn’t know that I know people who KNOW people...if you know what I mean so our dance friends are working hard from all angles to get this event restarted. After the cance...lling of our feis yesterday (for my non Irish dance friends a feis, pronounced fesh, refers to a dance competition) one of our dance friends set up a Change.org petition to reclassify competitive Irish dance as a low risk sport. Right now it’s in the same category as wrestling! Clearly the folks doing the classification never saw Irish dancing... solo dancers don’t move their arms and team dancing was not offered at our feis (due to Covid) and there is no wrestling involved Please do me a favor and sign the petition... it may be too late to get our feis restarted but it might help other feiseanna (plural form of feis.. weird I know, right) to continue their program in the fall. Our dance community is a wonderful group.. we may not always agree on the small stuff but we know the dancers need to compete... they’ve been practicing via zoom with their teachers all spring... some are now back in their studios... mentally, they’ve been preparing for this one bit of normalcy thruout this whole pandemic shut down....they’ve remained focused only to have their goal cancelled due to an erroneous classification of their sport. We can change this. See more

Hi y’all, I finished issuing entry refunds last night for our feisless feis , if you haven’t received your refund, please send me an email to [email protected] and I’ll look it up...please also provide me the email you use register for Feisweb. I also got pricing for V-neck tshirts, and tank tops. Regular T-shirts are $15.00 (2XL+3XL add $2.00) V-neck T-shirts are $20.00 (2XL+3XL add $2.00) Tank tops are $20.00 (2XL+3XL add $2.00) For the record, I don’t know t-shirt p...ricing and was surprised that v-necks and tank tops were so much more expensive...live and learn If you’d like a t-shirt, email me at [email protected]’ll need your name, mailing address, what size shirt you’d like and the quantity. If you’d like to Venmo your payment and request, I’ll still need your name, mailing address and size/quantity in the comment area. My Venmo acct is @michael-Farrell-66 (picture of me and my beagle) You can also send money via PayPal to [email protected] There is a place to add a message and I’ll need your name, mailing address, size/quantity The shirts will be white printing on a navy blue shirt.

Thank you again to all the folks that donated their entry fee. Your generosity is appreciated more that you knowEntry Refunds are being processed today for everyone that didn’t want to donate their fee. Thank you everyone for the Tshirt orders, I’ll be working on them later today Edit: I may have worded my post wrong, everyone is getting refunded unless they requested not to...

WOW! What a gorgeous day for a feis! This would have been the perfect payback for all the years of iffy weather, heat, humidity, and of course, the occasional rain showers. Oh well, I always have to believe there is a reason so I’m not going to mourn what could have been but I’m going to enjoy the day it is. Michael and I are going to have a cocktail or two at the Blackthorne pavilion later this afternoon.. come on over and join if you’re in town

This T-shirt design came from the creative (and slightly strange sense of humor...like me) mind of one of our Farrell dance moms, Starlyn Palmateer, and the actual design was created by Tim Myer of Fireball Designs. Tim is a great friend of mine (he does the airbrush design shirts at some feiseanna and festivals). We are using a local printer (Round Top Knit and Screening) to keep the cost as low as possible. The price of the shirt is $15.00, I’ll have them ready for pickup a...t East Durham feis...or I can mail them after the feis. If you’d like a t-shirt, email me at [email protected]’ll need your name, mailing address, what size shirt you’d like and the quantity. If you’d like to Venmo your payment and request, I’ll still need your name, mailing address and size/quantity in the comment area. My Venmo acct is @michael-Farrell-66 (picture of me and my beagle) You can also send money via PayPal to [email protected] There is a place to add a message and I’ll need your name, mailing address, size/quantity The shirts will be white printing on a navy blue shirt. I’m trying to get pricing for a v-neck option Children’s sizes YS, YM, YL Adult sizes S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL (2XL, 3XL add $2.00)

Before I tell you about my day yesterday, I want to say Thank You from the bottom of my heart. I am truly overwhelmed and humbled by your kind words and your generosity. Mark this day on your calendar because I’m actually speechless! (She says as she continues to write) In my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined so many positive posts, comments, texts, FB messages and phone calls. I haven’t answered them all, but I will, I promise. I took a tiny break from FB yesterday ...while I went on a little emotional roller coaster ride. Even yesterday, I had a glimmer of hope that the feis could be back on, while waiting for the final decision, my mind was racing with all the things I needed to do..., who to call...., where to get... But at 5:00 I got the final decision and it was a no. Sooo, Michael and I stepped out for a few hours to celebrate a friends birthday, sing a few songs with friends and mentally regroup. Today is a new day. Yesterday I was contacted by a local news station and they wanted to interview Michael and me... while I was thrilled for the opportunity to get our story out there, I had to think of the bigger picture...I didn’t want to bring unnecessary attention to the running of the East Durham feis on 8/22.. we are still hopeful and continue to work on this feis. Sometimes silence is the loudest voice and best option. This morning, I spoke with the TV guy and said maybe after 8/22, we could do an interview about the fragile economy of a tourist town and how we all need to work together to keep each other afloat. We’ll see... We’ve heard that lots of folks are still coming to East Durham for the weekend even without the feis, Michael and I will be at the pavilion at the Blackthorne in the afternoon so, if you are in town, please stop over and say Hi I’m still working on getting a price for the Tshirts, I’m trying to use a local vendor so the shipping won’t be so costly...I’ll have the shirts in plenty of time for East Durham feis and will mail out all other orders. My daughter texted me yesterday morning...she said Mom, I’m sitting here crying, reading all the beautiful posts...everyone is so thoughtful..I replied yes, I feel like we are having a It’s a Wonderful Life moment So thank you again for the outpouring of love, good wishes, and offers of help. I love our Irish dance community and our attitude, Mess with one of us and you’ll see what Irish dance community is really all about See more

It breaks my heart to announce that we have to cancel Catskill Mtn feis for 2020. Unfortunately, even tho we had the blessing of the town council and the local authorities and would have followed all CDC guidelines, someone with an axe to grind decided to tell lies and turn us in. They told the authorities that we were having thousands of people from ALL (on the travel ban list also) states for a competition INSIDE. Everything they said about us was wrong but they got the e...ar of the right person and a Cease and Desist letter was delivered. The codes they outlined in the letter didn’t even pertain to us but no one would give us a chance to appeal. For the record, this person doesn’t even know me, Michael or the Farrell school. The letter was delivered directly to the Blackthorne but named us as the offenders. If they had chosen to ask me in person, I would have gladly explained all the precautions we had planned...but they chose cowardice instead of faith. We contacted other local officials, got lawyers involved but time was not our friend this week. During the week prior to the feis we are busy little beavers getting tents set up, building the best stages ever, laying out marley, unpacking trophies, shopping for all the last minute stuff..planning, planning and more planning. I had to cancel a $7000.00 tent order today...that hurt. I’m sad for your children, we worked so hard to follow the rules and we wanted to give them a little piece of normalcy after these crazy few months. I’m sad for the parents because I know you wanted to see your kids doing what they love with people they love. I’m sad for my vendor friends, we’ve all been unemployed since March and I was hoping to give my friends the opportunity to make a few dollars..and reminisce about when times were good and we were self sufficient. I’m sad for my friends at the Blackthorne..they look forward to us every year...they love watching the kids running around just being kids. I’m sad for my town...we are a small (but mighty) tourist town and our businesses depend on our summer visitors to help us pay our bills long after the summer is gone. I’m sad for our feis committee and dance parents...we had a plan and, dammit, it as a good one! BUT, I am grateful for all my dance friends who offered help, made suggestions, and sent encouraging words...Thank you for believing in us and putting your faith in us....we would not have let you down. And finally, to the person with the cold black heart, who felt the need to tell lies to get a children’s activity cancelled, I hope you find peace...but I also hope you find a bat in your house and all your friends are too busy to help. I’ll spend the remainder of the week refunding your entry fees...We’ll get thru this and come out stronger. Oh man!!! I had the best T-shirt design ever!!!

Hey folks, Due to the new travel restrictions, if you can’t attend the feis on 8/1 and you’ve already paid, please send an email to me at [email protected]. I will absolutely refund your entry fee but it’s easier for me to keep requests all in one spot. Fb messenger is okay for questions but I’d like to keep wait list requests and refund requests in my email. Thanks bunches

One of my favorite sayings is make plans and God laughs and it seems God wants to put me thru my paces in planning this feis but here it goes...more states have been added to the travel advisory...I’ve copied the complete list but it’s listed in the link also. I also spoke to a NYS Trooper friend of mine and he told me he was directed to stop cars on the thruway that were from the travel advisory states. He didn’t say whether tickets would be issued (probably not) but you ...would be asked why you are traveling to NY. I spent all day yesterday (not exaggerating from 1:00-8:30pm with a brief stop for dinner) entering the wait list folks and emailing the people that I needed additional information from. If you were on the wait list I need you to please check your entry for accuracy. Because I had to do a lot of guessing, if you didn’t tell me what set piece your open champ dancer will be doing, I either picked The Lodge Road or Three Sea Captains ...it doesn’t really matter because they can tell the musician on the stage but just in case you were wondering about the odd choices. If you have already entered and have decided not to attend, please delete your entry...if you have already paid, please send me an email to [email protected] and I will refund your entry fee. If you are from a state listed below or from Canada, please delete your entry. A few people are coming from a restricted state but I already know they are in NY or NJ for 14 days prior to the feis. Alabama Alaska Arkansas Arizona California Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Iowa Indiana Kansas Louisiana Maryland Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Mexico North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Washington Wisconsin https://www.governor.ny.gov//governor-cuomo-announces-indi