Page 13 - 45th East Durham Irish Festival

MAY 28 & MAY 29, 2022
45TH EAST DURHAM IRISH FESTIVAL NEWS 13
We now had the location. The date would be Memorial Day Weekend which was a 3-day weekend which met the requirement to get the season started earlier. Everything was in place. I hired the NYC Police Emerald Society Pipe Band & the Paddy Noonan Band who were a popular attraction at the time. The entertainers were a big factor in helping to get the word out in promoting the event. We needed good vendors. Arrangements were made by Joe Jackson who was a strong member of the Woodbridge Irish American Association in New Jersey. My Co Chairman, Tom McGoldrick who owned the Weldon House in East Durham with his wife Joan agreed to help with the financing. Tom helped with organizing, budgets, operations and hiring entertainment for the festival. He directed the festival for 38 years and he is a major reason it is still going strong to this day.
The Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre, a non for profit 501C3 corporation was formed in the early 1980s. The first festival and the few years that followed opened the door and paved the way for the Michael J Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre where the festival is now held. It was originally purchased by the East Durham Vacationland Association in the early 1970s. Donal Gallagher was instrumental in talking with the Dolan family that owned the property. It was a big decision at the time. I remember about a dozen of us came together at the Shamrock House and not everyone agreed and were hesitant to purchase the land. We were there for hours, and I knew in my heart we had to purchase this land. Thanks to the leadership of Joan McGoldrick. I remember her slamming her hand on the table and saying, “are wegoingtodothisornot!”What’sgoingonhere?” Funnyenough...itwasjust what we needed, and everyone agreed. All the hard work was now in front of us. We had an open field that needed water, electricity and needed to be excavated. Patrick Monaghan a resident in the town and a certified public accountant obtained the IRS 501C3 status. It was a great help to the Cultural Centre and provided a way to obtain donations to support the existence on theCulturalCentre. TheEastDurhamIrishFestivalwasagreatsuccessfrom the first event and all the 45 years in existence. It has brought notoriety to East Durham and the businesses in the area. The only break was in 2020 and 2021 but still managed to virtually present the festival online to keep it going through the Covid 19 pandemic. Looking back over the years to that first festival, I remember all of the great people, like the Bob & Virginia Handel helped decorate the field, build the staging and providing a petting zoo for all the children, Pat Kelleher along with his brothers Neil and John and also John and Linda Kever from Hansel & Gretel’s Diner worked with The East Durham Volunteer Fire Department to bring all of the equipment for cooking food up to the original festival site so we could have corn beef and cabbage at the first festival. This is East Durham. This is who we are and what we’re all about.
East Durham is a Hamlet in Greene County NY. The area is mostly rural with many farms. When my Parents from the west of Ireland, in County Mayo first came to this area and saw the rolling hills, green pastures, stone walls, mountains and experienced good nature of the people it instantly brought them back home. Eventually East Durham was officially christened “The Emerald Isle of the Catskill Mountains”.
In 1961, my Parents, Jim and Nellie Gavin purchased the place they had vacationed in previous years on Golden Hill Road and put their name on it, Gavin’s Golden Hill House. Today it is owned by my daughter Bernadette and her Husband Brian and renamed it, Gavin’s Irish Country Inn.
Back in the day, the vacation season ran from July 4th to Labor Day Weekend. It was this way from the 1940s to the 1970s. I realized if we could somehow expand the season, opening earlier in the spring and later in the fall, it would create a longer season and would encourage reinvestment and improvements which were necessary in the hospitality business to attract guests. Keeping our facility up to date was crucial. In 1968, my father, Jim made the move to takedowntheoldexistingdiningroomtobuildanewone. WhenIcamehome from my honeymoon with my new wife, Margaret, to find my father excavated the area for the foundation of the new dining room. I was amazed to see all the cement blocks for the foundation and his work ethic and willingness to do whatever it would take to get it completed. The dining room was on the main level and the lower level eventually became the Gavin’s Golden Hill Pub. It was the beginning of what gave us great recognition for Irish American entertainment. Paddy Noonan had a very popular Irish Band and gave me great consultation on who we might be able to get to perform for us. He suggested we hire Al Logan who at the time was a star on Irish Television but was looking for exposure in the USA. Al would need a band to back him, so Paddy suggested Frankie Curran & the Evergreens. The Pub became so popular that we had to expand it with in the year. It was the start of bringing great Irish Entertainment to the Irish Alps. Paddy Noonan, Richie O’Shea, Andy Cooney, Noel Henry, Sean Dunphy, Noel Kingston, Tommy Mulvihill was just a few of the great entertainers that played regularly at Gavin’s.
The need to expand the season led to the search to find a way to do it. I read about an Irish Fest that was taking place in Syracuse, NY and thought it was so relative to our Emerald Isle of the Catskills. I started going about how we could have our own Irish Festival and became friends with Don Conover from Hunter, NY. He gave me great advice in what direction to go. He was a professional promotor at the time and presented the German Festival and a Country & Western Festival in Hunter, NY.
The East Durham Vacationland was the main business association at the time in East Durham and sponsored the festival. They were a large association of about 40 members that represented all the businesses. I conducted meetings starting in November 1976 that happened once a week. All The businesses were on board and had worked together to make the event happen. Securing a location which needed to draw thousands became the big obstacle. No one I approached would OK it. The decision of going forward was in question. I spoke to my father of the problem, and he told me not to give up. He had a German friend Otto Molter who owned a large field near his home not far from Route 145, the main highway running through East Durham. We met with Otto and explained what we needed, and he agreed to let us use his land for the festival. RememberingalltheadvicefromDonConover,wehiredthesamebig tent that Don used in Hunter for his festivals and his greatest advice to rang in my mind daily; “Jack, if you don’t get the word out, they cannot come to what they don’t know about!”