But Were Any of Them Irish?

It was a lovely event for a Saturday afternoon. I went for the beer and to see what they had going on for a Halfway to St. Patty’s event. I stayed longer than I meant to and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The first set started off with a young couple singing and raising money to be married in the spring. It was so sweet and so romantic. They call themselves Kinnfolk and play traditional Celtic music here in the Blue Ridge.

So, I admit the kilts threw me off. That’s Scottish, right? Well, I did a quick google and, although one should never trust the Internet, a Scottish blogger, Lochcarron of Scotland, says that the Irish wore them too. Internet wins. They represented the Irish.

Check out their Facebook page to see some videos of them playing and Mountain Valley Brewing has some on their Facebook page as well.

The Vinland Vikings were there also and had two tents set up where you could throw hatchets. That’s apparently becoming a “thing” in the area. I hear that there is a place in Danville called Grizzly’s Hatchet House where you go to … throw hatchets.

I thought it was another brewery at first, but I don’t think so. It’s apparently a pastime, like bowling but, instead of rolling a heavy ball down a lane and guttering, you throw heavy weapons through the air and …

I’ve been invited but my friends have never seen me attempt to throw anything. I wonder how quickly I’ll be barred.

And then there were pirates. The Pirates of the Piedmont are normally a crew of seven (I think) but a few were missing for this event. They have boundless energy and a wry sense of humor. They started off with what I think was the theme song to Sponge Bob SquarePants. I’ve been blessed to have missed this as required parental viewing but even I recognize that it was done really well.

This was followed by a performance of “Shark Attack”, where one pirate donned a shark costume and ran around “attacking” while the rest of the band played and the audience yelled “attack” at the chorus when the band yelled “shark”. If this has lost something in translation, there is a video here. (Turn your speakers on).

They did then settle down and start some earnest singing. Some were originals, some were funny. All were thoroughly enjoyable. I heard a cover of Stan Roger’s “Barrett’s Privateers” as I was refreshing my beer and, when asked, they did a beautiful cover of Roger’s “Northwest Passage”.

So we drank beer and I played with my camera. I got a couple of close ups that I think aren’t all that bad.

They closed with a rendition of “O, Danny Boy”. I got their permission to share the video below. Lovely, just lovely. Give it a listen.

There was still another band, Travis Reigh, to come on stage but this blogger doesn’t stay out after dark and had to run home to secure the chickens before the foxes found them.

Thank you to the owners of Mountain Valley Brewing for throwing such a wonderful and unusual bash!