A Knack for Anachronism

The legacy of a modern phenomenon, “The Lord of the Dance,” will intersect with a village seemingly transported here from medieval times this weekend at the 25th annual Irish Fair and Music Festival at Santa Anita Park racetrack.

About 1,200 Irish step-dancers will compete on six stages and a quarter of the fair’s real estate will be occupied by Tara Village, a simulated medieval hamlet brimming with historical reenactments of battles, music and crafts people.

“It’s ‘Lifestyles of the Poor and Wretched,’ ” jokes Vern Kriske, the chief of Tara Village, “along with entertainers. The historical reenactments are the most popular. It’s the first thing you see when you come through the gate. It’s a colorful pavilion with guys banging away. It’s like the NFL coming together on a Sunday morning.”

The Society for Creative Anachronism, an organization devoted to bringing the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to life, does extensive research to duplicate armor and stage battles in the village. It specializes in re-creating scenes from the 8th through the 16th centuries.

“They fight full tilt and put on quite a show,” Kriske says.

Tara also has a noncombative side. Other village inhabitants include crafts people--spinners, weavers, a professional blacksmith and candle makers, among others. About a dozen vendors will sell wares, including jewelry, weaving supplies and costumes. Storytellers will walk the streets along with jugglers and fire-breathers.

“There’s a lot of color, noise, music and history in Tara,” says Kriske, who has helped organize the fair since 1984.

When the fair was first held 25 years ago, about 3,000 people showed up. This year, about 40,000 are expected, says Terry Anderson, president of the Irish Fair Foundation, based in Toluca Lake.

“We view the Irish festival as a living Irish center,” Anderson says. “Once a year, everything Irish comes together: sports, dancing, theater, bands. For whatever reason, we’re one of the few towns that is able to do this.”

For Anderson, the heart of the fair lies in the Irish step-dancing and the music. “You can’t escape the Irish music,” he says. “New wave, old wave, music in the little theater. Wherever you go, you can’t get away from the sound of music or bagpipers.”

This year’s top-billed musical act is the Irish Rovers, famous for its 1967 million-selling single, “The Unicorn.” Among other bands performing are the Young Dubliners, “a U2-style band that is one of America’s up-and-coming young Irish rock bands,” Anderson says.

Yet it is the Irish step-dancing that “is truly the closest the fair gets to something in Ireland,” he says. “It highlights the fact that this is a real family event.

“A lot of my students first discovered Irish step-dancing at the fair,” says Maggie Cleary, who is running the dance competition for the second year. “But it’s grown over the last couple of years because of ‘Riverdance’ and ‘Lord of the Dance.’ ”

The fair is more than just dancing, although the competition is considered a major one, says Margie Weisman of Agoura. Her daughter Sarah, 11, will compete for the third time Saturday, when the under-13 events take place. (The 13-and-over competition is Sunday.)

“They have had to scramble to accommodate the number of dancers,” Weisman says. “But it’s a really neat venue for a dance competition because so much else is going on.”

Among the other events are parades, bagpipe playing, Irish and Scottish sports competitions, shepherding and Irish wolfhound shows, import shops, theatrical productions, harp and fiddle playing, a Welsh pavilion, a Leprechaun Kingdom play area for kids and genealogy and Gaelic language centers.

BE THERE

Irish Fair and Music Festival at the Santa Anita Park racetrack, 285 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia, is Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Adults $16, $13 for students 26 and younger and seniors 62 and older, children under 12 free with an adult. From 9:45 to 11 a.m. Sunday, anyone who brings two cans of food to donate to shelters will be admitted for $12. Call (818) 503-2511.