Craobh Dugan Members to Lead ICC Programming

Mike Hoke plays fiddle at a recent Five Points Public House seisiún.

We’re fortunate at the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley to have the expertise of a group of people who’ve been presenting Irish cultural events in the area for four decades. That group is Craobh Dugan and one of their leaders, Mike Hoke, is now the Chairman of our Programming Committee. Members of Craobh Dugan have been playing traditional seisiúns locally twice a month for about 20 years. In September 2019, the group moved their First Tuesday seisiún to Five Points Public House on the first floor of our building. Now you can hear music as authentic as anything you’d hear in Dublin in our beautiful pub imported from Ireland.

Craobh Dugan members also teach a ceili dance class on Friday evenings at 7:00pm. It’s a form of group dance similar to square dancing with some steps that will be familiar to anyone who’s done Irish step dancing.

There are plans in the works for Irish language lessons too, taught by Craobh Dugan member and local Irish language expert, Tom Malley. Other members of the group also plan to offer lectures and other programs on Irish history, poetry, and arts.

To find out more about Craobh Dugan, you can check out their website and blog and read an article about them published in A’CCENT magazine in May 2019.