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A glorious concoction of a wedding cake is checked over by Nancy Bunkleman-Keeling, owner of Golden Gourmet Bakery and the Ovens of Gracie O'Malley, Hartland, Wis. Bunkleman is noted for her baked delights that have delighted wedding couples throughout the Greater Milwaukee area since 1992. Her Ovens of Gracie O'Malley, named after the noted Irish pirate queen, specializes in cookies and other dessert delights. Many of the frosted delicacies are in the shape Irish harps and shamrocks. Bunkelman-Keeling is a 15-year veteran volunteer in the Milwaukee Irish Fest poster booth and children's area. 

Giving Stacey Alvarez Delzer a hug, Connie Reilly celebrated another successful wedding. The young bride is the daughter of Barry Alvarez, the coach of the University of Wisconsin-Madison football team. Milwaukee-
based planner Reilly, owner of "Your Wedding," has been organizing weddings for Wisconsin's elite for the past six years. Her grandparents came to the States from Co. Cork at the turn of the century and became grocers, launching what eventually  became the A & P chain of stores. A 13-year-old grandson, J.P. Geygan, is an up-and-coming piper.

With the Belfast City Hall in the background, Tom Hartley paused on his rounds as a Sinn Féin councillor for West Belfast.  Hartley is also chair of the council's Arts Committee, a board director of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau and chair of the West Belfast Tourism Partnership.

Preparing sandwiches for a recent conference at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation 40 miles south of Dublin, were volunteers Michael Rhodes of River Falls, Wis., Sladjand Spasojovic, of Bosnia, and Mary Jane Reillyof Bloomington, Ind.  The service program at Glencree was coordinated by Global Volunteers, a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul Minn.  Glencree was started in 1974 to bring together Irish and Northern Irish from all walks of life to discuss their mutual challenges in advancing the cause of peace.  Volunteers from around the world help the full-time staff on a variety of maintenance, construction and landscaping projects at the facilty.  Global Volunteers sends up to four teams of 15 volunteers to Glencree each year.

During his December visit to Ireland, President Bill Clinton met with a group of George Mitchell Scholars.  The educational program is the flagship initiative of the US-Ireland Alliance, a Washington (D.C.) organization educating Americans about Ireland and Northern Ireland.  The scholarship enables American university graduates to pursue a year of study on the island.  With Clinton were (left to right) Gabe Paquette, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Winnie Li, Brea, Calif.; Tom Vitolo, Roanoke, Va.; Rebecca Reichert, Crystal Lake, Ill.; Clinton; Mrs.Clinton, Rachel Rebouche, Houston, Tex.; Erin Breeze, Nederland, Col.; Mikela French, Idaho Falls, Ida..; Desha Girod, Wayne, Pa.; and Rebecca Blustein, Piedmont, Calif.