The Willow Glen Resident

Glen fetes St. Patrick's Day with dancing, corned beef

By Michelle Ku

Irish eyes will be smiling next week as Willow Glen celebrates St. Patrick's Day with Irish dancing. Beginning Saturday, March 14, and continuing through St. Patrick's Day, dancers from the Golden-Greene School of Irish Dancing will be performing traditional Irish step dancing throughout Willow Glen and around the Bay Area.

Other than the dancing, there won't be much more of a St. Patrick's Day celebration in Willow Glen. "I don't think a lot of businesses do anything anymore for St. Patrick's," said Demetri Rizos, manager of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association. "I think the only places that do are Irish bars. But I can tell you restaurants are probably going to serve corned beef and cabbage."

Goosetown Caffe will probably serve corned beef, said owner Gary Rovai. "Our problem is we're an Italian restaurant," he said. "We could order up corned beef not knowing how many people are going to come in and order it. ...We might say OK and give it a chance."

Each year, the students and instructors from the Golden-Greene School of Irish Dancing promote Irish culture by stepping their way from one end of the Bay to the other, performing the traditional Irish step-dancing popularized by the Riverdance and Lord of the Dance shows.

Glen residents might remember the Irish dancing school students from the last four annual Founders Day parades.

The dancers will perform at a number of schools, pubs and private functions to celebrate Irish culture. "We try to schedule all the elementary schools that ask to teach the children about the Irish culture," said Sondra Greene-Kirwan, owner of and an instructor at the Irish dancing school. "We also try to schedule [shows at] Irish pubs."

Some of the appearances in the Willow Glen area on Sunday, March 14, are at Berean Christian Store at 2:30 p.m., St. Christopher's Church at 7:45 p.m. and the Elks Lodge in Willow Glen at 8:30 p.m.

On St. Patrick's Day, three of the many appearances the dancers will make are at Presentation High School at 11:40 a.m., St. Frances Cabrini School at 2:15 p.m. and the Britannia Arms in San Jose at 7 p.m.

"Every year since 1993, we've danced from 9 in the morning until sometimes 10 o'clock at night just traveling from location to location," Greene-Kirwan said.

More dancers than ever will be participating in this year's round of performances. Last year about 30 students from the school performed. This year, it will be a record 50 to 60. Greene-Kirwan attributes the increase in the number of participants to Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, which introduced many people to Irish step-dancing.

Twenty-five to 30 of the dancers are from the Willow Glen area.

For more information about the Golden-Greene School's St. Patrick's Day appearance schedule, call 723-3540.

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