On Wednesday, September 29th, the Washington, DC Young Leaders gathered at the Embassy of Ireland for their annual “Samhain” Irish Halloween celebration.
The event comes on the heels of two successful Young Leaders events that have already taken place this fall: The “Halfway to St. Patrick’s Celebration” and the Young Leaders Global 5K. The event was complimentary as a benefit to our Young Leader Members. The event was also a thank you to our sponsors including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, The Northern Ireland Bureau, Microsoft and The Wine Spirit Wholesalers of America.
“Masquerade” was the spirit of the evening and so as guests arrived, those without costume or disguise were offered a selection of masks to join in the fun.. Guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and traditional Halloween candy while listening to the sounds of The Danny Burns Band.
Kevin Comny, Deputy Chief of Mission, greeted the Young Leaders and welcomed them on behalf of the Embassy of Ireland. He thanked them for their support of Ireland and Irish charities through their involvement with The American Ireland Fund and introduced the Irish Ambassador to The United States, Anne Anderson. Ambassador Anderson said that the 2013 Samhain celebration was her first official event as Ambassador in Washington, DC. She then spoke about how important the connection is between Irish-Americans and Ireland and thanked the Young Leaders for their generous support. National Director of the Young Leaders, Pat Tully, then followed Ambassador Anderson’s words by thanking the DC Steering Committee for their hard work and dedication to the building and maintaining of the DC Young Leaders chapter and for their extraordinary work with the inaugural Global 5K, led by Drew Walsh.
Steering Committee Chair Megan Molloy spoke about the success of the “Halfway” event and personally thanked John Gaine for his work and organization in making the event so successful.
Later in the evening, prizes were given out for the best masks and Young Leader Kevin Murphy won and took home a copy of The Ireland Funds WineGeese Society’s newly released book A Kingdom of Wine, volume II by Ted Murphy (no relation).
An after-party followed at James Hobans with discounted cocktails for Young Leader members and their guests.
Special thanks to Demi Meeker and Susan O’Neill and Associates, The Danny Burns Band and the staff of the Irish Embassy.
Photographs by Marty Katz
