Posts Categorized: Pennsylvania Feis

Feis Na Cara 2015, Champs Review

Posted by Corabelle Colbert & filed under Feis Na Cara, Pennsylvania Feis.

carafeislogo1Feis Na Cara, hosted by the McDade-Cara school was on Sunday, January 11th, 2015 at the Marple Sports Complex in Broomall, PA. This is a new location for this feis (formerly held at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, PA). The 2015 venue is familiar to the McDade-Cara school as this is the location for the Four Provinces Feis held in April.  The start time for the feis was 8:45 am. This was our 3rd time attending Feis Na Cara, but the first time on the Champs stages.

Venue

The venue is similar to the former venue- an indoor hockey rink. The parking was ample but most of it was on the street. Parking was not allowed at nearby businesses. The area is hilly so there was some uphill walking for folks! Plus, a very cold morning made a ½ mile walk seem very far!! But, it’s January right? A map of the stages/vendors/etc was provided by the Feis Committee via Facebook and Twitter. I found this very helpful to prepare myself and my child for the location where we needed to be. The fit inside the venue was tight. I really think the committee did a great job attempting to spread things out in general. However, because a hockey rink only has one or two “doors” to exit from, it’s difficult to have a good flow of traffic. The cap for this feis is 1000 and it met its cap so there were many people there! read more

Pittsburgh Winter Feis 2014 Review, Grades Level

Posted by Mom O'Treble & filed under Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis, Pittsburgh Winter Feis.

Feis Info

This review is for Saturday’s Grades competitions and this is the 4th year we have attended. The Pittsburgh Winter Feis is held at the Hyatt Pittsburgh Airport- the hotel is literally right at the airport. This feis is run by Jim G. and his great crew of volunteers (they also do the West Virginia Feis, Celtic Fling, Pittsburgh Halloween Feis and the new, Tessie Burke Feis). They had a bit of a challenge this year with a wedding reception occurring on Saturday evening, which required some logistical organization to get the feis things taken down or moved out of sight for the reception, and then back up for Sunday’s comp. The hotel restaurant was also under construction (staff said they hope to have it open again February). But with all that was going on, things from our perspective ran smooth. There were about 650 competitors registered for between the two days of competition. Registration was thru eFeis. read more

Ryan-Kilcoyne Feis 2014, PC/OC Review

Posted by Mom O'Three & filed under Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis, Ryan-Kilcoyne Feis.

The 20th Annual Ryan-Kilcoyne School of Irish Dancing Feis was held on October 11, 2014, at the Maple Point Middle School in Langhorne, PA.

Venue

A school. A very small, tight school. This mainly presents issues when it comes to parking and navigating the halls. There are vendors in the small hallways, right next to award postings. It is a difficult feat to get between a beginning mother and her much needed pictures of her newest dancer who just received her first 1st. It could take you several minutes to get to the gym navigating the maze. There are many unused hallways in this school. Why does everything need to be crowded into 2 narrow hallways? read more

Pittsburgh Feis Eats

Posted by What The Feis & filed under Feistaurants, People & Places, Pittsburgh Halloween Feis, West Virginia Feis.

One of the reasons I like to travel is for the food, and when I find a family friendly place near the venue I like to point it out, especially when it is a ‘local’ place that might be easily missed. I found one this weekend during the Halloween Feis.

85596488_scaled_110x110After having spent the previous week on the coast, I was actually tired of seafood, so when Mrs. WTF asked what I wanted for dinner, I said chicken wings. We did a Google search and found there was a Buffalo Wild Wings nearby, but those are everywhere. We also found a little place called Wings, Suds and Spuds that had some favorable ratings, so we gave it a shot. read more

Pittsburgh Halloween Feis 2014, PC/OC Review

Posted by What The Feis & filed under Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis, Pittsburgh Halloween Feis.

I have been to four (at least) feis at this venue between the Halloween Feis and The West Virginia Feis. Yes, I said WV. It is at the same venue as the Halloween Feis which is actually between Pittsburgh and WV, but I digress. My first few experiences (one & two) were not my favorite, but number three was much better. The fact that TGC has moved up into the PC ranks, really helps the ‘likeability’ of this feis since the champs portion is held on Sunday. Not taking away from the great job the feis team does on Saturday mind you, but Sunday is just better. Can I get a ‘yeah man!’ read more

Celtic Fling Feis 2014, PC/OC Levels Review

Posted by Mom O'Three & filed under Celtic Fling Feis, Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis.

cfLogoThe Celtic Fling Feis was held on June 28th, 2014 in Manheim, PA.

This is an outdoor feis, combined with an Irish-Scottish festival. Be aware that each adult needs to pay to get into the feis (it includes admission to the fair) even if you do not want to go to the fair. The parking is well organized with parking attendants leading you to your appropriate spot. A short walk later and you have been transported into a Renaissance Village with the signage to prove it. Ye Enter Here! Be prepared for long lines to get tickets and dancer numbers, although there is an option to pick them up the night before. read more

West Virginia Feis Grades Day 2014

Posted by What The Feis & filed under Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis, West Virginia Feis, West Virginia Feis.

The West Virginia Feis for Grades was held on March 22nd, 2014 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the feis was held in PA, I have listed it under both PA and WV reviews.

NOTE: This is for the Grades day of the feis (Saturday), which I did not attend, but I did have a comment or two from others so wanted to post them. If you have comments, please add them at the bottom. Thanks!

“I will only add that I wish when they are finishing a group prior to lunch they would push through and finish their TS. One of my biggest pet peeves is to finish their core dances and then have to wait around forever to do ONLY the TS after lunch. Of course this may just be me…. read more

West Virginia Feis PC/OC Day 2014

Posted by What The Feis & filed under Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis, West Virginia Feis, West Virginia Feis.

The West Virginia Feis PC/OC was held on March 23rd, 2014 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the feis was held in PA, I have listed it under both PA and WV reviews.

NOTE: This is for the PC/OC day of the feis (Sunday). If you have comments for the Grades day of the feis, please contact me and I can share them in a separate post, thanks!

Venue – This is the third feis I have attended at the Hyatt, and though I wasn’t thrilled with the venue the first time, and even less impressed the second time, I didn’t mind it at all this time. Lots about the venue was the same, but considering it was a champ day, there were a LOT less people there and it made it a much more pleasant environment. read more

West Virginia Feis

Posted by What The Feis & filed under Pennsylvania Feis, West Virginia Feis, West Virginia Feis.

The West Virginia Feis was held on March 23 and 24th, 2013 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA. Since the feis was held in PA, I have listed it under both PA and WV reviews.

Please add your feis rating for the West Virginia Feis at the bottom of this review!

NOTE: This review focuses on Saturday only for this two day feis. OC and PC stages and judging therefore are not included in the review.

Venue – This is the second feis I have attended at the Hyatt, and for the last one, I said it ‘wasn’t terrible as a feis venue’, and I still go by that, HOWEVER, I liked it a lot less this time than the last. There were four performance stages, and while I peeked in on the fourth, most of my time was spent in the large ballroom with the three stages. As in my last review for this venue, stages were good size and had sufficient chairs for viewers. The traffic area around the stages was not adequate and moving was difficult, especially since some people congregated on the back wall and in front of the doors into the stage area. read more

Pittsburgh Halloween Feis Review

Posted by What The Feis & filed under Feis Reviews, Pennsylvania Feis, Pittsburgh Halloween Feis.

NOTE: When you are done reading, please see the comments for a follow up by the Feis Chair.

The Pittsburgh Halloween Feis was held on October 6, 2012 at Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Pittsburgh Airport in Pittsburgh, PA.

Venue – The Hyatt wasn’t terrible as a feis venue, but I did have some ‘issues’ with it.

From the syllabus I see there were five stages but I really only saw three of them. They were good size and although they were all in the same room, there was adequate room to move between them. They also had sufficient chairs for viewers. read more