Queen City Feis PC/OC Levels Review 2014

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queencityAs I think about the Queen City Feis, I realize that it was the first feis we attended, ever, back in 2008. TGC walked away with 2 third place medals that day. I actually wrote a mini-feis review on my personal blog. Who knew what we were getting ourselves into… so without further ado.

The Queen City Feis was held at the Duke Energy Convention Center on Saturday, May 10th, 2014. This was our 6th trip to this feis (missing a year for a school change), and the first year we got to be on the other side of the wall (the champ side). You can see my previous reviews here.

This review focuses on the PC/OC levels but has some additional info that crosses the levels. Not to worry, one of our newest contributors, Mellie Wilkes, wrote a grades level review for your reading pleasure.

Venue

We have been to this venue a number of times and I like it a little more each time. This year was no exception.

Stages & Seating

There were 7 stages in the venue with 1 – 5 being grades level, 6 for PC and OC, and 7 for OC. The grades level stages were 20 x 24 and plywood, and the champ stages were closer to 32 x 32 and covered in a light gray coating (not sure what it was). There was good separation between the stages and lots of chairs at each one. I did not see any stage maintenance during the day in the way of sweeping and mopping, but stage crew seemed to be on the ball for any FO (foreign objects) and removed them promptly. It seemed there were less opportunities for ‘feis shaming‘ since there were plenty of chairs at each stage, and it was the most respectful crowd I have seen at the champ stages in this regard in quite awhile. I did hear some grumblings from the grades level side that people were less courteous.

Camping & Access

Camping areas were plentiful and well marked, and the feis team set up a 6 – 8 foot wide walkway throughout the stage areas. This was occasionally more constricted due to camping overflow and loiterers, but generally you could get through pretty easily.

Awards & Results Areas

Grade level awards were posted at one end of the venue on a large wall. No matter where you are though, grades level results are hard to get too with the number of people trying to see them. The awards table was right next to where the results were posted.

Champ level dancers had a section off in a secluded area featuring the standard 3 tier podium and lots of chairs for viewers. ‘A’ chair for a viewer is out of the ordinary, so ‘lots for viewers’ was a bonus. This area was far enough away from stages so the announcements did not compete with music from any of the stages.

Parking

Parking was plentiful with various lots costing from $10 – $15 dollars within a block of the building.

Venue Score: 9.5

Judges

The stage we were on actually had 4 judges, 1 in training as I understand. The judges were attentive to both dancers on stage each time, and the scores seemed more consistent than they have at other feiseanna. Not sure if this speaks to the opinions of the judges, or a consistency in TGCs skills. Either way, I liked the judging.

Judge Score: 9.5

Music

Having commented on musical confusion in other posts, I can say when you are in front of the stage or in the middle of the venue, this feis was no different. Lots of overlap from the various stages. I did make a point to walk the venue and try to hear the music from a dancer perspective (without actually getting on the stage) and realize that if you are ‘in front’ of the musician, it is a lot easier to hear.

Each stage had their own musicians and I heard no complaints.

Musician Score: 9.5

Food

This venue had ‘upscale’ convention center food like Cuban sandwiches, Metts, Chicken Tender sandwiches, and then your burgers, fries, pretzels, deli sandwiches, etc… The concession was pricey at $8.50 for a deli sandwich but it was good size and came with a small pasta salad and granola bar (weird combo). Drinks were also pricey.

You could also find smoothies, lemonade and sno-cones and a nice roasted nuts and chocolates table.

Food Score: 7.5

Vendors

You can see a complete list of vendors but the usual subjects were there, including George the shoe guy and Mare the ribbon lady. Otherwise, a few wig and hair things and some specialty tables, but sadly, no Irish M&Ms (Smarties).  🙁

Vendor Score: 7.5

Results

Results for champs, as mentioned above had a nice area off to one end of the venue with lots of chairs for viewers, so props for that, but it was just over an hour for results to be tabulated and announced. This was not much less than the feis last weekend that literally had twice as many dancers in the comp. Still, an hour is not terrible.

Results Score: 8.5

Feis Flow

We got to the venue early, we always do, but that is our fault. From start to finish, TGC did a special, both PC dances and got awards within 2 hours. Pretty darn good.

Feis Flow: 9

Scoring

Two part scoring with a Feis Score consisting of Judging, Music, Results and Flow, and then the overall consisting of everything.

Feis Score: 9.125 – That is VERY respectable 🙂

And the WTF Rating is 8.71… Nice Job Queen City!

What Say You?

Well, not sure what is going on, but our polling software has decided to spazz out on us. Would love to hear what you thought, so can you do it in the comments below? It can be anonymous  🙂  Thanks!

Lexington, KY Eats

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Haven’t posted a feistaurant review in a while, but stumbled across some worthy entries this past wekeend.

Italian Nachos

Italian Nachos

Old Chicago

I have never (if memory serves) reviewed a chain restaurant, but we liked this place so much, TGC wants to move to Kentucky.

Be sure to click the pictures to see a larger version. No filters on the pics, the food looked that good and tasted even better.

spaghettiPie

Spaghetti Pie

Old Chicago is a western chain that is slowly making its way east, and if you are lucky, you have one near you. If you have not tried it, go, or at the very least put this one on your todo list for next years Bluegrass Feis.

On top of an outrageous menu, they have a nice selection of beers and the service was excellent!

We started with the Italian Nachos, a pasta (yes, I said pasta) chip covered with cheeses, sausage, pepperocini, and served with marinara, “Dio mio!… that is Italian for OMG. Fried and carbs, can it get any better?

chicagoFire

Chicago Fire Calzone

TGC had a hard time selecting from the vast menu but decided carbo loading was the way to go. She went with the Spaghetti Pie, a wedge shaped piece of spaghetti noodles with Alfredo sauce set atop marinara.

I went with a calzone called Chicago Fire, a spicy blend of meats and veggied in a huge dough case, served with ranch. Anyone of you who knows me is going to find this hard to believe, but it was too much, and on top of the nachos, um, and beer, I couldn’t finish it.

And don’t let the ‘Italian’ list fool you, we went traditional, but they also have wings, salads, and specialty pizzas like THAI PIE with chicken and teriyaki. Oh, and did I mention they have a nice beer selection? 😉

Highly recommended.

Spaulding’s Bakery

Our own Mellie Wilkes recommended Spaulding’s to me when she heard we were headed to Lexington. Known for their donuts, she told me to get there early on Sunday if I wanted a chance to get some.

Well, considering the meal the night before (see above), and the fact we did not have to rush to the feis first thing Sunday, we took a pass on Spauldings. So why is it listed you ask?

As we drove to the feis, we took side streets through some of the older neighborhoods. In one area, I could see a line of people out the door, and considering the neighborhood, I literally thought it might be a soup kitchen. I was surprised to find it was Spauldings, and Mellie was right, there was a line out the door and around the building.

So sorry Mellie, maybe next time, but if you guys have the chance in the meantime, sounds like it is worth a visit.

Queen City Feis Grades Levels Review 2014

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queencityThe Queen City Feis was held on May 10, 2014, in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Duke Energy Convention Center. This is the building which spells CINCINNATI in window lights. It is surrounded by several hotel and shopping options. The feis hotel was also connected to the convention center by SkyWalk. The SkyWalks also connect to the Tower Place Mall and secured parking garages. From First Feis to Prizewinner and Adult to Championship levels, this feis welcomes all ages and abilities. Several memorial specials are also a draw for championship dancers. This feis can certainly boast of their excellent crew, or herd, of feis volunteers. They were easy to spot in their day glow t-shirts, with GRUNT! on the back.

Please remember, this is a review from a Southern Region perspective. The Wilkes family does not usually feis in the Mid America Region. This was our third foray into a feis offered by this region. This is also our 3rd feis weekend in a row. Parts of this review are a bit more rambling than previous reviews. So, y’all just remember the perspective of the reviewer while reading.

EDITORS NOTE: This review is focused on Grades Levels. If you are interested in notes from the PC/OC levels, click here.

Venue: 8 out of 10

Convention center feis! As most readers already know, I am a fan of convention center feisanna. This venue is an excellent example of a well run, convention center feis. Walkways were fairly self patrolled. This Georgia Belle learned the true meaning of feis camping at this feis. I saw everything but a camp fire and a tent. Though I did look, there were no marshmallows or chocolate bars visible. I did see a few candy stashes, though. There was also ample seating for attendees and their guests. Several times, I saw unclaimed and empty seats in the viewing areas, while parents stood. The stages were low, so I am guessing they wanted to see the dancers feet. With low stages, standing, is a good way to ensure a view of dancer feet. If you know anything about dance in general, you know to watch the feet. The bathrooms were clean and well stocked. They were not well marked, which created some confusion and embarrassment. Camping areas were taped off and well marked. There were tables for munching at a couple of locations in the hall. There was also plenty of room for practicing, warming up, and stretching. The feis location was not well marked, upon entering the convention center. There were plenty of Duke Energy Center employees and security personnel to direct everyone.

Parking: 7 out of 10

The parking options were all very close to the convention center. $15 to park in a secure garage. $10 for an open, unsecure lot. There were a couple of both within a block of the convention center. The prices were higher than expected, especially compared to Atlanta parking prices. There were skywalks to the feis hotel and to secured parking garage.

Feis Flow: 9 out of 10

The feis was well announced over loud speakers. It started on time, with the the opening ceremonies. The majority of attendees did pay the proper respect to all national anthems. It warmed my heart, to hear my own little darlings sing the anthem of the United States of America. They were just behind me and I nearly cried. Patriotism should be taught when the children are young. It is a blessing to know that my little darlings have paid attention to that teaching. But, I digress…the stages did not all start at the same time. Some began immediately after the opening ceremonies. Others began later. The figure stages that began slowly, that I noticed, were due to either adjudicators not being quite ready or to musicians tuning their instruments and handling last minute sound checks. The volunteers were well connected with technology. Each stage had at least one volunteer wired with a headset and radio communication. So, stages were held when there were conflicts. Figure dancers did not miss the start of their solo dances on other stages. Such a stress relief! Well done, Queen City GRUNTS! You are excellent examples of well trained, hard working, well connected, and patient feis volunteers.

Vendors: 10 out of 10

Several vendors ran feis specials. One wig vendor was selling a full wig for $55. Another was selling sterling silver Celtic knotwork birthstone rings for $20. This feis had a wonderful variety of vendors available.

  • Two wig and hair bob stands
  • Two crafty doo dah and doll stands
  • Dress maker
  • Photography
  • Shoes
  • Custom Hair bands and hair bobs
  • Irish, Celtic, and Feis themed stand
  • Used dress rack

Judges: 5 out of 10

One little darling danced all three dances for the same judge. Another little darling danced twice for one judge and twice for another judge. My big darling who danced 7 grade competitions, only danced for 3 judges. On the grade stages, there was certainly a lack of judge rotation.

Music: 7 out of 10

Violins were on the grade stages for our little darlings. This caused music overflow from neighboring stages. The champion stages had accordions. Oh, beautiful accordion! Dear accordion, you were missed on the grades side of convention center. This feis, I only noticed one musician mishap on the grades stages. Very talented violinists on all of the stages our darlings danced.

Results: 4 out of 10

Results started out posting very quickly. Beginners were out within 10 minutes of their dances. With the start of advanced beginner and novice, the results started coming out slowly. Some results came out in 15-20 minutes after the competition, others took over 45 minutes to be posted. Some were lost in the shuffle completely, and did not post for 2 hours. One of the our little darlings had a competition whose results fell into that category, the feis results abyss. Do you think such a thing could be plotted on a stage assignment map? Here is the tabulation area. There is the awards stage. And right next to the podium, that spiral shape, that is the feis results abyss. Also, the awards were on the slight side, in my opinion and experience. From beginner to prizewinner, they received the same medals. Even championship dancers received medals for their treble reel. Only first place treble reel champion dancers received a small crystal boxed gift. I am accustomed to champ treble reel receiving trophies and sashes on a podium at the River Valley Feis. Or, receiving trophies and gifts at feisanna by The Drake School. It was surprising, to me, to see such slight awards for such a large feis. Champion results were an hour to 2.5 hours between competitions and announcement. The length of time between the championship dances and their results was a topic of conversation all over the feis. Not a positive or pleasant topic, from what we experienced.

Food: 6 out of 10

The venue food options were, personally, expensive. Not Disney expensive, mind you. But still, $3.50 for a pretzel. Only a pretzel. Another feis family spent $30 on chicken fingers and fries. No drinks or extras for that price. The sandwiches we wanted to order were sold out by the time our family reached the head of the line. Sandwich plates were $8.50, plus the cost of a drink. Ash was quite disappointed in the lack of coffee. But, there were options. This feis offered a wide variety of food vendors, provided you were willing to pay for the privilege.

  • Deli
  • Grill
  • Pizza
  • Specialty lemonade
  • Custom smoothies
  • Gourmet chocolate and treats

Overall: 7 out of 10

What did YOU think?

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Celtic Spirit Feis PC/OC Review 2014

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csThe Celtic Spirit Feis was held on May 4th, 2014 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, WI.

Editor’s Note:

Back to back feiseanna were held at the Wisconsin Center this weekend so the summaries and scores for Venue, Food and Vendors here are the same for the Saturday feis. Scores are below. Full descriptions can be found here.

This review is for the PC/OC portion of the feis. If you have comments for the Grades portion of the feis, please contact me and I can share them in a separate post, thanks!

Venue Score: 7  |  Food Score: 7  |  Vendor Score: 9

Judges

I actually had an issue with the judges for day 2, or more specifically, one judge. This particular judge during the time I watched, seemed to focus on a particular dancer if they noticed something they did not like about the other dancer. It came across as a snap decision, ‘nope don’t like that dancer, not going to look for anything good about them.’ Just gave me a bad impression and therefore did not like the judging on Sunday as much as the judging the previous day. This was on Stage 1.

Judge Score: 7

Music

Actually, the setup of the musicians and the issues I encountered with that setup on Saturday, remained on Sunday, so the score is the same.

Musician Score: 7

Results

Awards were in the same large area as the day before so there was plenty of room, but the time from the end of the comp to the announcing of results was a little slower on Sunday at just over 2 hours.

Results Score: 8

Feis Flow

I can sum up the flow like this, by 1p.m. it looked like over 95% of the comps had finished, and there was dancing on very few stages. That feis moved along. Great job!

Feis Flow: 10

Scoring

Two part scoring with a Feis Score consisting of Judging, Music, Results and Flow, and then the overall consisting of everything.

Feis Score: 8 – Not quite as good as the day before due to poorer Judge and Results scores. A better Flow score helped.

And the WTF Rating is 7.86… not terrible, and definitely worth another chance..

What Say You?

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Wisconsin Spring Feis PC/OC Review 2014

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logocolorThe Wisconsin Spring Feis was held on May 3rd, 2014 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, WI.

Editor’s Note:

Back to back feiseanna were held at the Wisconsin Center this weekend so the summaries and scores for Venue, Food and Vendors will be the same for both days and only listed in this review.

This review is for the PC/OC portion of the feis. Sorry, it got to hard to monitor stages and results for grades and pay attention to what was going on with TGC and her schedule. If you have comments for the Grades portion of the feis, please contact me and I can share them in a separate post, thanks!

Venue

This is the first (and second) feis I have attended at this venue and I am on the fence about the venue itself. It is huge and has lots of potential, but I do not think the space was adequately used.

There were 10 stages with stages 1 – 3 set up for PC & OC and 4 – 10 for grades. The huge hall was divided in half by a partition with the PC/OC stages butt up against it. Grade level stages 4 – 8 were in the same half of the hall, separated from the PC/OC stages by a large camping area, and an attempt at walkways between the stages and the camping area. Stages 9 and 10 were in the other half of the hall kind of off in the corners.

The other half of the hall had the results for grades set up on the partition that divided the hall, basically in back of stages 1 – 3. It also held the vendors (about 8 of them), a small smoothie cart and some tables for dining. It also held the awards area for PC/OC which was a nice size and accomodated that purpose better than any other feis I have seen while TGC has been at this level.

The PC/OC stages were very large, about 28 x 32 and covered with the non-slip material which made for a nice dance area. TGC danced on two different stages during the two days and had no problems, and I saw no slips or falls on either of them. TGC did say that stage 3 had either a loose board or high spot she noticed when she was practicing before the feis started, but that was the only complaint I heard.

Afraid that even though I watched a dance or two by friends on the grades stages, I did not notice to much about them.

Camping in the ‘designated area’ was not adequate for the number of people there Saturday. There was plenty of area in the other half of the hall but it appeared that rather than take a 60 second walk, piling on top of each other was preferred.

Camping in the viewer chairs, was as always, an issue. People ‘tried’ not to do that and piled there stuff behind the last row of chairs which impeded pedestrian flow. Add to that the people standing behind that gear, and the people standing behind them, trying to see the dancers, because they could not sit down for all the gear piled onto the chairs, and the walkway that was supposed to be about 10 feet wide quickly dwindled down to about 5 feet. Add in overflow camping from the other side of the path, well, you get where I am going with this.

The concessions were at either end of the hall and there was only one bathroom I saw in the hall, but more were located in the hallway outside, so not to bad.

I heard parking was $15 but to be honest, since we were in a hotel attached to the venue, we used hotel parking when we got there Friday night and did not get in the car till it was time to go home on Sunday.

If I had run the feis, I would have moved all the vendors up to the front of the hall between the main doors and the stages, there was probably 40 feet of free space that would probably would have fit them all. Then, I would use the other half of the hall to space out the stages more and add more camping, but that is just me 😉

Venue Score: 7  (but it has the potential to be 9 or 10. NOTE: Sunday seemed less crowded and more pleasant then Saturday)

Judges

PC/OC  always has 3 judges. They were attentive on our stage and took only one break that I saw. I realized with this back to back, that although there is always similarities in PC/OC judging, having 3 judges does not automatically mean a high score. Saturday was good, Sunday, less so.

Judge Score: 9.5

Music

Each stage had their own musician and according to TGC, the music was fine on the stage, but in the viewing seats it was really hard to distinguish between which stage was playing what. I also saw one dancer jump the gun which I believe was due to having a hard time hearing the music.

Musician Score: 7

Food

We only caught the lunch menu and it was much what you would expect for a ‘convention center’ venue. Hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, pizza. We had two cheeseburgers,  and one fries and it was $17, which seemed high, but the burgers were good and pretty big. There were lots of options if you wanted to venture outside the venue, but not many fast food establishments.

Food Score: 7

Vendors

The shoe guy, NOT GEORGE, who also sold t’s and sweatshirts, some nice knit wear, Irish nic nacs, jewelry, the wig ladies, Guinness wear, a ribbon fob booth but not Made by Mare, the photographer and the feis tshirt booth. Plus, we were able to find Irish M&Ms (Smarties) and I found Lucozade, which I first had in my Grandmothers store in Ireland when I was a kid (queue the reminiscing music). All in all, a nice vendor turnout.

Vendor Score: 9

Results

I am still getting used to how these PC/OC results work and I don’t know if I have determined the average yet, but I didn’t think these were hateful. It was about 90 minutes from the end of TGCs comp and the results and she was in a huge comp.

Awards were given in a large area off in an isolated part of the hall, so there was plenty of room to gather and the noise from the viewers was not a distraction to the other competitors.

Results Score: 9

Feis Flow

Gotta say that the flow of the feis was pretty good for the number of competitors. TGCs comp was done with both dances in about an hour and the comp was the biggest comp for a standard feis I have seen.

Casual observation of other stages and it seems like the flow on those was smooth and steady as well.

Feis Flow: 9

Scoring

Two part scoring with a Feis Score consisting of Judging, Music, Results and Flow, and then the overall consisting of everything.

Feis Score: 8.625 – Music brought this down a bit but the Results and Flow were pretty good considering the sheer numbers there.

And the WTF Rating is 8.36… not to bad and this is a feis we would definitely consider going back to.

What Say You?

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Peach State Feis Review 2014

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psfThe Peach State Feis was held May 2-3, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia.  The feis was held at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North.  This is the same location as last year.  The feis is run by Peach State Feis Inc.  Truly, this is a feis of the Drake School.  Their Southern Region feisanna, typically, are run under the supervision of the talented and famous Karl Drake.  New this year, is the inclusion of a Feis Fiesta, held after the Friday evening competitions.  This feis has no competitor cap.  It also includes many competitions for all ages and abilities.  From the Gaelic language, Celtic Art, and music competitions to their treble reels and traditional set competitions, this is a feis that promises to hold something for everyone.

Venue: 4 out of 10

This is a hotel feis.  By definition, hotel feisanna are spread out over several, tightly packed rooms, reached by traversing crowded, noisy hallways, and end with overworked volunteers in a poorly lit awards room or area.  The Peach State Feis is no exception.  It also could be called the Southern Sardine Feis.  You will feel as though you had been inside a sardine can, by the end of the feis.  The hotel is still undergoing construction.  There were no bathrooms on the feis level floor at all.  Everyone had to walk upstairs to use the restroom.  At registration Friday evening, the halls smelled like a summer camp cabin. Fortunately, the smells of dance bags, hair spray, sweat, and Mexican food soon over powered it.  The volunteers really did all they could to answer questions, guide parents, and corral dancers.  The grade level halls were noisy and crowded.  The stage was about 2 inches off of the floor.  There was room to walk.  Barely.  The feis awards room was at the end of the main hallway.  All the vendors were accessible on the main hallway.  The champs room was much quieter.  It was also very well lit, with a raised stage.  It should be noted that was no room to practice or stretch.

Vendors:  8 out of 10

Two of the vendors scheduled for the feis did not arrive.  Otherwise, it would have been a 10 out of 10.  The Drake School feisanna usually have a wide variety of excellent vendors.  This year, they included:

  • Specialized t shirts
  • Portable Speakers
  • Shoe and poodle sock vendor
  • Ireland/Celtic/Feis themed items
  • Celtic Fine Jewelry
  • Free Physical Therapy and Injury Evaluations
  • Wig and Hair Bobs
  • Crystal photographs

Food:  6 out of 10

Hotel concessions were available.  Bagels with cream cheese were $2.  The food was fine for a hotel feis.  There was also a restaurant and Starbucks down the hall.  The Starbucks prices were a bit higher than home.  $3.50 for a large iced, flavored coffee or a large regular cup of coffee.  If coffee is easily available, the Ash Wilkes is quite pleased.  Thus, the reason for the high food rating.  He enjoyed his coffee and stayed pleasant the entire feis.

Music:  8 out of 10

Accordions!  How thankful I was to hear those blessed accordions at all the stages.  Even with the din of the halls, you could hear the music.  The speakers were well above the heads of all the dancers.  The first few rounds of Advanced Beg, the musician started the music a bit roughly.  As the number progressed, the beginning of the dances became a smoother transition.  Having the counter on stage saved several people from timing errors, in my observation. With there being accordions at the feis, there was occasionally some musical carry over between the rooms.  Since the feis was a crowded, noisy one, this was only noticed rarely, and more often in the afternoon.

Parking: 5 out of 10

With there being no competitor cap, there is no telling how many people will be attending the feis.  No telling how many cars.  Also, since the event is held at a hotel, these same people will be looking for cars in a parking lot with other hotel guests.  I am sure you can see where this is going.  Parking was made more of a challenge with the hotel construction detours.

My personal recommendation is to arrive between 3 and 4:30pm on Friday night.  Be prepared to keep your car in your parking spot until your family is finished at this feis.  Easier said than done, I understand.  It is something to consider for next year.

Judges: 6 out of 10

Judges were kept at the same table for the morning grades.  The dancers were rotated.  There were 3 stages in the grades room.  1 stage in the champ room.  Depending on the number of grade level dances, the dancer may have danced for 3 different judges, or, they may have danced for 1 judge 3 times and the other judges only 1 time.  My personal preference is for a different judge for each dance competed.  This feis was more of a statistical probability game with judging.  It all depended on the number of dances, the rotation of the stage, and where each fell in the operation of the schedule.  The same rotation and judges were in place for the afternoon grade competition for Novice.  They were changed completely for the Prizewinner competitions.  One judge left before the end of Prizewinner competitions.  This complicated the remainder of the competitions for those 3 stages, leaving 2 judges for the room. (See also Feis Flow)

Results: 7 out of 10

Results were posted roughly 15-30 minutes after the completion of the dance.  A wide estimation range, I know.  Some dances were posted quickly.  Some dances did not post results for quite awhile.  It should be understood that the extreme crowding of the halls and hallways effected the runners ability to relay the scores to the tabulation room.  The medals were a change from last year.  This year, they were palm sized, embossed and enameled peaches, with the feis name and logo.  There were gold, silver, and bronze.  All other placements were copper colored and embossed, without the enamel.  Trophies were awarded for all traditional set placements, in addition to Prizewinner and Up.  Champions received various crystal gifts, trophies, sashes, and perpetual trophies, depending on their competition level, age, and placement.

Feis Flow: 7 out of 10

Some changes were made from last years schedule.  The Friday evening figure, language, music, and vocal competitions were held on the large ballroom stages.  They were followed by the Feis Fiesta party.  The evening competitions began almost 30 minutes late, which of course pushed the figures late.  The charity treble reel, at the Feis Fiesta, was postponed until the figures completed.  Of course, many of us now that the Drake School knows how to throw a great party.  The Feis Fiesta was a huge success, with money raised for the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta.  Piñatas ended the party.

The following morning, the grades schedule progressed very smoothly.  The feis started on time.  Lunch break occurred on schedule, at 12:10pm.  The stages resumed, for grades, close to 45 minutes later.  The rooms were both quieter and less crowded in the afternoon.  Towards the end of the day, a judge leaving early affected the schedule.  The final prizewinner and treble reel schedules went from three to two stages. The bathrooms being upstairs created delays, during what are usually short breaks for the judges.

Overall Feis Rating: 6 out of 10

What say you?

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