Performances draw crowds at Irish fest

By Lauren Hunter
Staff Writer

Doors opened to a flood of students, faculty and staff for free Irish food and performances featuring Scythian on March 7 at 6:30 p.m. 

The event was hosted by Exc!te, a student organization aimed at promoting student engagement on campus. 

To the left when one entered, there was a photo-op area with a rainbow made out of balloons and a pot of gold at the end of it. 

There was also free Irish-themed food available for the attendees. Tiny sliders as well as tater tots were on the menu. 

For the 21 and older crowd, there were various types of alcohol offered. In addition, there was a merchandise table for the main band of the evening, Scythian. 

As people were eating, a couple of people started swing dancing to the Irish music in the middle of the gym. 

The first performance of the night was by senior Murphy Givens. He played the guitar for about the first hour of the night. 

Givens played traditional Irish songs such as “Belle of Belfast City” but also popular music like “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan and “Galway Girl” by Ed Sheeran. 

After this, the Irish Dance Club at Franciscan University performed a few dances in the middle of the gym. People made a semi-circle around them and clapped to the beat of the music. 

When the Irish dancing was over, there was a brief intermission before Scythian started their performance. 

Scythian began performing around 8:40 p.m. and quickly drew a crowd around the stage. 

The first song they performed was an Irish song called “Can’t You Dance the Polka?”, and they had the audience jumping to the beat. 

Freshman Marie Ross said, “It’s been wonderful to see the variety of dances, the music is amazing, and the food tastes really good as well.”