Irish culture is alive and well in the Willamette Valley. From Portland to Eugene, classes, performances, festivals and events abound for those with a love of Irish dance, music and food.

 In Salem, one of the most popular venues promoting Irish culture is Ceili of the Valley’s monthly ceili, a social gathering involving music and dance, and often storytelling or singing as well. Ceili of the Valley, headed by Carl and Ginny Beilstein-Wedel, is a non-profit group formed in 2006, “dedicated to promoting Irish culture mainly through music and dance.” To support their mission, the group attends and performs at various community events at no cost, including the World Beat Festival. The group hosts ceilis on the second Friday of every month at Salem’s VFW Hall. The group also holds Irish social dance classes Tuesday evenings, and beginners are welcome, Ginny Beilstein-Wedel said. “We’ve even had a 4-year-old, although young children need to have participating dancing partners,” she said. “Most of us … have never taken dance classes before this and are just regular people who love the spirit and social interaction of Irish dance.”

 The November ceili featured Sam Keator teaching Irish dance and calling steps. Keator, who lives in Tualatin, was the teacher who started the Ceili of the Valley classes, and his business, Irish Entertainment, finds him teaching and calling Irish dance, and promoting Irish concerts. Keator is also completing his ninth year as president of the All-Ireland Cultural Society (AICS), a group whose aim is “to bring social opportunities, Irish entertainment, and cultural information to the Portland area.” Not that Keator lets that stop him from expanding into the rest of the Willamette Valley.

 “I am very happy to see that the Irish culture has grown in Salem beyond just dance,” he said. “They’ve gone from dancing to concerts, workshops, language, community radio, parades and singing.”

 Keator’s interest in Irish dancing began in the winter of 1997, when a friend sent him a motivational card listing 101 ways to reduce stress. “Somewhere in the middle of the card, ‘dance a jig’ jumped out at me,” he said. “I took it to heart and sought out the Irish dance in Portland.”

 The November ceili also featured Hanz Araki and Kathryn Claire, a duo who perform at the Ceili of the Valley ceili twice a year. Araki and Claire have been playing together for about three years. “We perform three to four times a week,” Araki said, “and we practice nearly every day.”

 “Kathryn has been playing violin since she was … about 6,” Araki said. “She taught herself guitar as a means to explore her singing, which she also did from a very young age.” Araki himself comes from a long line of flautists. “Even though I didn’t start playing music until I was 17, it is long in my blood. One could say I have a genetic disposition for flute.”

 According to Araki, the level of Irish musicianship in the Willamette Valley is quite high. “A number of players are very devoted to the tradition,” he said, “and they seem to be getting more and more proficient.” He has taken part in special concerts with the Salem Concert Band at the Elsinore, and “the response is always inspiring.”

 Farther south, Irish culture also thrives in Eugene, where Peggy Hinsman heads up an Irish cultural festival every March. “My goal … is to enhance the festival by adding lots of workshops … so people can learn about authentic aspects of Irish culture,” she said.

 According to Hinsman, Irish culture is evident in the Eugene area in at least three Irish pubs and four weekly Irish music sessions on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Hinsman plays traditional Irish music on the fiddle, the bodhran (the Irish drum) and the low D whistle at the Thursday event.

 In addition to culture, a large number of people living in the valley have some Irish heritage. According to Ann McBride, one of the hosts of KMUZ radio’s Celtic Music Hour in Salem, one in every five people living in the Willamette Valley is of some Irish decent. According to Hinsman, the number is closer to 40 percent. One such person is Laurie Smith, a psychology professor at Corban University in Salem. Smith’s family’s name was Keen and their origins are in County Kerry, near Killarney. Smith visited Ireland with her husband in 2005, and she says, “[I] loved Ireland for its superb landscapes and verdant valleys, rolling green hills and castle ruins, and dairy cattle feeding by fabulous stone walls and clear lakes.”

 Smith and her husband also had the opportunity to visit Killarney itself. “There are still shops with the Keen name,” she said. “I would go in and chat them up, and inevitably someone would cheerily claim me as a cousin!”

Ellen Kersey is a retired high school English/journalism teacher, presently teaching writing and journalism at Corban University in Salem. She loves writing features about people who have stories to tell (that pretty much includes everyone!). She recently moved into Bonaventure of Salem, a senior retirement center, with her husband Earl, and she loves NOT cooking.