25th Anniversary
2005

To help celebrate the 25th anniversary of Milwaukee Irish Fest, The Irish American Post will be running stories on some of the many volunteers who help make the world's largest Irish cultural event such a success. These features will appear in The Post over the next few months.

Hefty Titles Belay Hard Work Behind the Festival Scene
 

Jeannie Barnes Cissne has hefty titles at Milwaukee Irish Fest. She is hotel coordinator, plus acts as chairperson of the Scholarship and Grant Committee. She was named 2004 IF Volunteer of the Year, celebrating her work since the first year of the festival in 1981.

Her professional background serve her well, with people skills honed a as a teacher at Thomas More High School in Social Studies, emphasizing American history and government, as well as psychology. She is acting chair of the department

Cissne’s Irish background is heavy on the brogue. On her father’s side — counting Barnes, Delaney, Byrnes, Fleming and O’Keefe folks — she’s 100% Irish with ancestry from Kilkenny and Limerick. On her mother’s side she racks up Norwegian, with Irish ancestry from Tipperary, Cork and Mayo. Among them were Russell, O’Malley and Martin clans. The family believes descendency from the "great," as she says, Grania O’Malley, the noted Irish pirate queen circa 1600 A.D.

Both sides of family strong into "roots" and promoting Irish culture ("some more than others, of course Fanatic is appropriate for some," she laughs) Both side emigrated to States in the mid to late 1800s and wound up in Northeast Iowa.

Cissne heard about Irish Fest because of her acquaintance with many of the Irish in Milwaukee, through relatives and by friends in the Shamrock Club and the band, Blarney. There was no specific moment when it all fell into place. It just happened.

But the opening night, 1981, set her volunteer course for the next 25 years. She has participated every day, every year since then.

Taught Ceili Dancing
"At the first festival, I was signed up to teach ceili dancing in what is now the Crossroads area," she recalls. "On opening day, I was in a dither because I had to attend an ordination in the Fond du Lac area earlier in the day and was running very late. Then I made a wrong turn onto the Hoan Bridge, ending up on the south side of town."

Since she was usually punctual, she was mortified to be late for her first assignment. She also remembered feeling "downright giddy" that the festival was finally happening. "I remember running from stage to stage to get in just a few minutes of each performance—something I am still doing because my current position means I see very little of what’s happening on the festival grounds," she says.

She’s subsequently held an assortment of jobs over the years,with the resulting challenges. In addition to being a ceili instructor in those first years, she acted as White Witch of the West, a strolling character that put a blessing or a pox on festival goers. "I walked around in my wedding dress and a white witch’s hat with a spangly green shamrock on the top. I carried a white curtain rod as my wand, reciting something about being the ‘white witch of the Gael…If you listen at night you can hear me wail…,’" she smiles.

Then she became Queen Maeve, another roving character attired in flame red, gaudy jewelry, with sword and shield. "During this time I also helped recruit young people for the children’s theater by visiting schools and explaining Irish Fest opportunities," she says.

Outside the fest during this time, she also worked with the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance for a few years and was president of the Parents Club. There, her job was to coordinate and supervise the dancers’ performances and attempt to keep parents out front of the stage. "The space behind stage is very limited and the number of dancers great," says Cissne. "Trinity always drew huge crowds and keeping things calm behind the curtain was always a challenge." 

Involvement in the Irish world has long been a family affair. Daughter Becky started performing when she was 9-years-old. When she danced at Irish Fest during the years when she was young, it meant a lot of trudging from stage to stage and dragging costumes Cissne’s biggest thrill occurred when Trinity performed the dance drama, Grania O’Malley, at the festival. "It had won the world championships of Irish Dance in Cork with Becky dancing the lead part."

Brian Becomes ‘Boru’
Son Brian, who becomes "Brian Boru" for the weekend, and daughter Rachel have usually helped with hotel stuff, like moving me in and out, and giving me an occasional break."

But it was mostly Irish Fest that took up her off hours, especially in the days leading up to each event. "I think it was in the late 1980s that I took over coordination of the Thursday Night festival activities. Initially this was a gathering of festival coordinators, supervisors, and volunteers for the ceili dancing," Cissne says. She adds that the event was a way for folks to have a little fun before they worked the rest of the festival. 

"During those years, the ceili expanded into what we called ‘Preview Night’ with acts new to the festival performing, in addition to the dancing. More expansion of Thursday meant a name change to the ‘Grand Gathering’ and the opening of more stages, expansion of food service and the chance to buy from retailers," she explains. The Grand Gathering is now Hooley Night.

About 12 years ago, while still coordinating Thursday night act ivies, she became hotel coordinator. Another name for this might be, "House Mother to the Stars," she laughs again. "Doing both jobs became impossible as both continued to grow while my energy level did not. I gave up Thursday to better handle the comings and goings of the festival entertainers, sponsors, VIP’s and assorted others," Cissne says. 

"The festival hotel coordinator has a vocation, not a job, you might say. I see little of what is happening on the grounds. Rather, I live at the Park East, the hotel headquarters and get to experience life behind the scenes for all these festival participants," Cissne goes on.

Among her responsibilities are booking accommodations for performers and guests and working with the festival transportation people to coordinate arrivals and departures to Milwaukee, but also to and from the hotel to the grounds for performances. She must see that things run smoothly at the six or more Irish Fest hotels." Since I am one of the first (and last) people the performers see, it is important to remain cheery, hospitable, solve all kinds of problems, and help make sure these people want to come back again," she says. 

Assembles Info Packets
Each year, she assembles info packets for the entertainers, containing everything they need to know ("but I’m suspicious they don’t always read" to survive the festival. Included is an entertainer handbook that details van service, CD and other retail items service, stage protocol, copies of The Irish American Post and other publications and related material There is also information about service the festival provides at the hotel, passes to the grounds, maps, a schedule including sound check times and a guide to Milwaukee and the Irish Music Archives. "Invariably, someone needs to get to the other side of town for a guitar string...or to see Harley Davidson," Cissne says.

Over all these years, Cissne has certainly seen the festival grow. "Thursday night has expand from a ceili night with about 350 to 400 people to a preview night with performers on several stages and, I think, to about 6,000 to 8,000 people attending," she asserts.

"My job as hotel coordinator has grown from managing the Park East guests and folks at one other place, to booking and accommodating performers at six places. Part of my job requires being on top of needs or ‘challenge’ at the hotels, thus a 24-hour-a-day on-call job. I stay at the hotel. Time was when that meant Friday through Sunday. It has become Wednesday through Monday. Performers and teachers for the summer school may start arriving a week early and there is always plenty to do," Cissne says. 

She has seen the number of bands and their members increase, as well as entourages, including sound technicians, managers, family and friends over the years. Even the number and size of the instruments and equipment has grown. "have you ever seen what Different Drums carries along," she asks, referring to the group that uses numerous large percussion instruments in their repertoire.

There are usually 30 to 40 groups, plus assorted individuals per year. Multiply that number over about 14 years and the amount of talent Cissne has shepherded is amazing.

Cissne offers an all-knowing chuckle about her experiences with the groups. "These cannot all be told, of course, That may be another book, another time," she smiles mischievously.

"However, I think I have the best festival job, because I get to know and see so many wonderful people, so many of my heroes. How many people can say Tommy Makem has sung ‘I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair’ to them on the steps of the hotel?," she reminisces. 

"Then there was the time...," she chuckles, voice trailing off with her light-hearted humor.

"A new manager at the hotel had heard the tales of what happened at the Park East after the festival grounds closed and how the entertainers returned for their own fun — finding hotel niches to hold their musician seisuns. These are wonderful — the playing all night, the members of groups joining together with others, local musicians, and those who say they are, all enjoying the craic and tunes, and even the dancing. You cannot find these experiences easily. Anyway...," she relates.

The new managerwas subsequently concerned about all the Irish partying. He decided it was best to protect the hotel by removing the new lobby furnishings and replacing everything from couches to plants with the old furnishings that were in basement storage. Up came old worn couches and a few folding chairs, plus lots of hotel staff to keep things going, but going at a nice calm pace until the wee hours. "I think that was the year two of our entertainers, no names mentioned. who danced their way down the street to breakfast at 5 a.m. Anyway, things went well, and the next year no folding chairs were needed," Cissne asserts.

Monday Is Tough Time
"There was a Monday morning one year — always the tough time, getting performers out of bed and on their way to flights — when, going about my duties, I had a call from management to get to the hotel roof where a body had been found," Cissne exclaims. The roof at the Park East had become a wonderful gathering place for after-hours fun, perhaps for everyone but the neighbors. Well, several of the Irish Fest drivers accompanied me to the roof with management where we indeed found a body under a towel — but alas, not gone, only asleep after a long night," she recalls.

"The roof is a great place, perhaps until more recently when it becomes overly crowded. But time was when performers, and Irish Fest staff spent time singing, playing tunes and becoming friends after all else was shut down. Ask the Security Patrol about ‘Hog Calling Time in Wisconsin,’ " she suggests. "Gaelic Storm has always given high praise to the Park East. They even wrote a song, now recorded on one of their cd’s about what happens there," Cissne says.

The most asked question from performers is "what time’s the next shuttle?" as they hope to catch the next Irish Fest van transport to or from grounds. The next favorite question is "Where’s the nearest mall?"

What makes Cissne reflect quietly is discussing the now-deceased performers and friends she had gotten to know over the years when they came to the festival. "I think of Tom Rowe of Schooner Fare; Derrick McCormick of Barleycorn; Ralph Garrett, Tommy Makem’s agent; and Mary Makem, Tommy Makem’s wife," she laments.

Other memories often come from the vans, especially things said or songs on the trip back from the grounds. Cissne says that Pat Woods, upon his first time in Milwaukee, raved about the organization of the festival and said this festival is truly an experience that can only be appreciated by being part of it. Carmel Quinn wanted her to find an iron, or panty hose, or offering Chinese herbals for Cissne’s headache. 

"I’ve learned always to identify myself when knocking on performers’ doors. They might open it in the ‘all-together.’ I’ve learned when Sean O’Neill comes to town you’d best be prepared to ceili dance all night in the hotel. Or when Paddy Reilly and Liam Clancy are together, there’ll be singing in the pub til the most wee hours. In recent years, the hotel has booked weddings on Saturday nights during the festival and it is great fun to see the some of the performers ‘crash’ the reception or the wedding guests join the Irish partying," she remembers.

Performers Talk About Lives
Sometimes, some performers talk about their lives, their families and life on the road. Ralph Garrett was good at that. He and his wife, Ellen, were a hoot, always hanging around Cissne’s table in the lobby, offering up stories of Boston Irish, and volunteering help with whatever. The Dublin City Ramblers are friendly that way, as are Gaelic Storm and Tom Sweeney, according to Cissne..

Of course, it took a number of years before all that came together. For her first year at the Park East, Cissne says she was super organized. "The person who had the job previously was so well-organized, but I had decided to be myself. Actually, I fell into it easily, perhaps joking and laughing a lot more than usual because I was ‘honored’ — I think that is the right word — to be having this job," she says.

Such work has gotten easier in the sense that Cissne mostly knows what to do now, but definitely it is harder keeping track of who’s who. Some of the bands have so many people, she says, rolling her eyes. "And I am getting older. Senility runs in my family," she says, feigning despair.

Cissne moves into the Park East lobby on Wednesday of festival week. She sets up her desk/table in the lobby, close to the main desk where she can see the people at the desk and the drivers in the Irish Fest vans arriving and departing.

"The first year I was there I thought my duty was to keep an eye on things as much as possible. I got very little sleep that year, about an hour for several nights straight. I have wised up and now get at least four to five hours a night. I start at the desk about 8 a.m. and shut the desk itself down about 9 p.m. I usually get to the grounds on Saturday evening for about two hours and on Sunday for the Scattering," she explains.

"I start preparing in April and May, talking with our hotels and getting lists from the festival people who will need accommodations for people such as entertainment, Summer School instructors, Gaeltacht, sponsors, Irish government officials and so on. I develop tentative lists, meet with hotel management, call and receive calls from entertainers and others who want rooms. And redo and redo and redo the lists," she says.

On Sunday of the festival, one of the hardest tasks is drawing up a list of departure times for all the visitors and coordinating it with van drivers. "Monday after all are gone, I go home to bed and return to school the next day. That is tough!" according to Cissne.

But all’s still not done. She still needs to check and approve the hotel billings, pass them on to the festival and assess how things went in a written report.

Reaction Positive
Reaction from the performers under her care about the quality of the festival has been almost exclusively positive, according to Cissne. "They continue to be impressed with the vastness of the festival, the number of volunteers, the organization and the fun. One thing many of the performers, especially those coming from Ireland, comment on is the misconceptions some Americans have about what the Irish culture is about — that it is not leprechauns and shamrocks, but something far deeper and richer."

She has made many friends over the years and keep in touch with some of them to a certain degree.

For Cissne, the value of the festival is "feeling a part of something that will preserve our culture. Also, there’s euphoria that comes, year after year, like another St. Patrick’s Day. I can’t get enough of it."