A History Assignment

We have been in Ireland for a week now. As a school assignment from Mama, Porter and I had to learn a bit about Crosshaven, the town where we are staying. I opted to ask some questions of local people. I started by asking a parent at the playground about Crosshaven's history. She told me a little and also said that a good source of information was with the owners of a local pub, Cronin's. At the pub I arranged to meet with the two owners.

On Friday, I met them. The two owners are brother and sister, and both are friendly redheads. From Joleen and Dennis, I learned all about the pub and the world famous redhead convention that they started. Here is what I learned...

The pub was started by Joleen's and Dennis's grandparents. They bought a hotel in Crosshaven and turned it into a pub. At the time, Crosshaven was just a summer village. People from the city of Cork came for holidays and for the summer, but returned to Cork for the winter. But slowly over time, it has turned into a year round community. More people moved in and it grew larger. This was good for the pub.

Surprisingly, the most interesting thing I learned was the story of the Redhead Convention. It happens every year in August. What is funny is it started out as a joke. Dennis joked that for his upcoming birthday party, he would only invite redheads. But a nearby customer immediately latched on to the idea and encouraged it. The first year of the convention brought over three hundreds redheads to Crosshaven. It was advertised all over Ireland and Joleen turned it into a fund-raiser for skin cancer research because redheads get sunburned so easily. At first I was skeptical of the idea, but as I learned more, I thought the convention sounded like a brilliant idea. 

The convention has grown since it started six years ago. Last year, over two thousand people came from all over the world. There are activities, and contests, my favorite being the most freckles per square inch. It seems like a pretty funny idea, all turned into a huge convention.

You can see a photo of me with Dennis, Sean and Joleen on the Cronin's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CroninsPub?fref=ts

I also learned how to "pull a pint" for a customer. An eleven year old in the U.S. would never get to do something like this so I felt lucky and enjoyed the process. This skill will not come in handy to me for another fifteen years, so it amused me because it gave me more of a connection to Irish pubs. This is how to pull a pint. First you clean the glass. Then pull the drink lever. Also make sure you tip the glass so the drink does not foam too much. As the glass fills up, tip it level, and put it smoothly on the counter. Shawn, Joleen and Dennis's dad, told me never forget to collect the money! So I even took the money from the customer and put it in the till and he gave me a nice tip!

 This is me pulling a pint with Dennis while Sean looks on.

Serving the pint.

All and all, I had a fun time chatting with Joleen, Dennis and Sean, and learning a little of the history of the pub.-JackRabbit