Which Bill Chambers are you speaking of?

                                                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.