CLEVELAND'S IRISH
CULTURAL FESTIVAL
or Which Bill Chambers are
you speaking of?
by
J.C. Sullivan
Copyright,
1997
Cleveland's West Irish-American Club
sports a
record for picking wet weekends
for their Annual Ohio Irish Festival at their spacious and impressive grounds
in North Olmsted. According to Bill Chambers.. well, wait a minute - let's back
up a moment. When you talk about Bill Chambers in Cleveland, you'd better apply
the right moniker so one knows exactly which Bill you're speaking of.
A past-Project engineer of the event,
supported by a cast of hundreds, is 'Brick 'em' Bill Chambers, who together
with his brother Emmett, operate Inland Refractories Company, a supplier of
firebrick to the hot metals industry. Not to be confused, of course, with other
colorful Cleveland Chambers.
There's also 'Lay 'em down' Bill, from
Chambers Funeral Home, opposite St. Patrick's Church (West Park) on Rocky River
Drive. Because a three day Irish mist
visited a recent Festival, wetting the
crowd and grounds for the second year in a row, 'Lay 'em down' Bill said of
'Brick 'em Bill, "He ought to find a country that's suffering from a
drought and get hired to stage a festival!"
Another local, 'Sing 'em ' Bill is a
performing artist at the festival and has been seen and heard throughout Ohio with various
other local performers.
The fourth Bill one could speak of in
Cleveland is 'Set 'em up' Bill, a
tugboat Captain and former owner of the popular Public House, at Kamm's corner, Rocky River Drive and Lorain
Avenue. Mayo visitors to Cleveland are always to be seen there. Sean Murray was
there lrecently, in town for his son's
wedding. 'Set'em up' sold the Public House a few years ago so he’snow
been crowned 'Tug 'em Bill.' A classmate of this writer at St. Vincent
DePaul grade School, he'll be the subject of a future story. We fondly hope this story will get by censors and moral advisers. I
threatened him that I’d tell Mayo
readers how I saved his life after he cut his arm playing Pom-Pom-Poolaway in
Jefferson Park. The deal was that if he ever bought a pub I'd drink for free
the rest of my life. Maybe he was forced to sell the joint?
A
visitor to another recent festival
was former Ohio Congressman Martin Hoke,
who claims kinship with Wexford's Ignatius Xavier Rossiter. Rossiter allegedly
was a leader in the 1798 rising. Hoke visited the West Side I'A's tent where he
purchased a sweater. When he said, "Hi, I'm Martin Hoke, Ann Halloran,
recoiled in mock horror and said, "Ohmigod, a Republican!" It's assumed,
of course, that to be Irish in America one must be a Democrat. Ten minutes
later Hoke encountered a Halloran look-a-like while walking through the parking
lot. His greeting brought another, "Ohmigod, a Republican," to which
the Congressman replied, "Didn't we just meet?" Turns out it was Halloran's sister. Ann had
told her what had happened earlier and she was having fun too.
Television Station WEWS TV5 caused a bit of
a stir when they changed their tentative plans to interview Congressman Hoke.
Wanting to interview him about President Clinton's policies, they'd made
arrangements to speak with the Congressman outside the I-A's gates. The I-A has
a strict policy of no- politicking on the grounds. However, because of the
rain, the TV crew decided to move inside the gates, underneath the overhang by
the Clubhouse. Ever-mindful Club President Helen Malloy gently reminded TV5 reporter
Bill Shiels that there was to be no mention of the club when they broadcast the
political interview later during the evening news. And they didn't! They did
interview
Festival Staffer Mary Kay Bomberg and took their cameras around the grounds to
show the Greater Cleveland viewing audience how much fun there was to be had by
coming out to the Festival.
