Fresh milk products and great customer service at Stew Leonard's!

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME STEP DANCING WITH THAT SODA BREAD?
Stew Leonard’s Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with A Shamrock Shindig

NORWALK, Conn., March 10, 2003 – Corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and shamrock cookies won’t be the only Irish items to check out at Stew Leonard’s the weekend preceding St. Patrick’s Day. The family-owned food store famous for in-store entertainment, celebrates their Irish heritage by hosting two very talented local groups:

“The Celtic Cross Pipes & Drums” band will perform at Stew Leonard’s Norwalk store on Saturday, March 15 from 2:30 to 3:30 P.M.

Irish step dancers from the Pender-Keady Academy in Stamford, Conn. will perform on Sunday, March 16, from 10:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. in the Norwalk store.

Celtic Music and Culture

Direct from the Stamford St. Patrick’s Day parade, The Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums band will strum their way to Stew Leonard’s on Saturday to kick off the weekend festivities. The majority of the group’s 23 members will be in attendance, including Pipe Major Sean Lyons and Drum Major Dan McKee. Formed in 1990 in Danbury, Conn., the pipers and drummers have performed at hundreds of parades, including New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Step-to-it to Stew’s

Since Riverdance hit the world stage in the 1990s, Irish step-dancing has taken off faster than Michael Flatley’s “Feet of Flames.” The traditional dance involves intricate footwork – each “step” is a sequence of moves that lasts eight bars of music plus its mirror image - while the upper body remains rigid, and the arms are kept straight down.

Erin Pender and Kathleen Keady started dancing as children, and both have won National and World Irish dance competitions. Additionally, they performed in Riverdance and Lord of the Dance before opening the Pender-Keady Academy in Stamford, Conn. in 1999, to teach Irish dance to all ages and levels of commitment. The academy already has an enrollment of 200 students, and has produced many champions in Feis competitions, Oireachtas and Nationals.
Erin and Kathleen will bring twelve of their students, ranging in age from seven years-old to 11 to Stew’s to perform their trademark dances such as the ceili called “St. Patrick’s Day.”

St. Patty’s Provisions

While customers are enjoying the Irish music and dance, they can also pick up all the provisions they need for a St. Patrick’s Day themed meal. Traditional Irish foods such as corned beef and cabbage will be available for take-out on Stew Leonard’s hot bar. In Bethy’s Bakery, there will be green bagels, as well as a selection of holiday cookies and cupcakes for the wee ones. And although he may not be Irish, Stew’s very own Chef George Llorens is a regular leprechaun in the kitchen. Here are some of Chef George’s menu suggestions for planning a St. Patrick’s Day dinner:


Starters:	Smoked salmon and a selection of Irish cheeses from Kerrygold like Vintage Irish Cheddar, Blarney, Dubliner and Swiss
Main Course:	Corned beef or Irish Stew
Side Dishes:	Irish colcannon (a potato-cabbage side dish) or potato pancakes; Irish soda bread
Dessert:	Shamrock Cookies and Cupcakes from Bethy’s Bakery and Irish Cream Coffee from Stew’s coffee department

In lieu of wearing a shamrock, customers can stop by Stew Leonard’s floral department and purchase some festive green carnations to pin on to show their Irish pride.

Tora-Lora Lore

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Connecticut ranks among the top 10 states with the highest proportion of residents of Irish descent (Massachusetts is No. 1.) Although St. Patrick’s Day is not an official holiday in the United States, everybody is Irish on March 17, the day that commemorates the death of Saint Patrick. St. Patrick's Day was first publicly celebrated in the United States in 1737, in Boston – although New York City actually held the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1762.

Stew Leonard, Sr.’s great grandfather, Patrick Leonard, immigrated to America from Ireland in 1881 and settled in Danbury, Connecticut as a hat maker. In 1905, Patrick Leonard moved to Norwalk with his wife Mary and 12 children. It was one of Patrick’s sons, Charles Leo Leonard, who started Clover Farms dairy in the 1920s, which eventually led to the creation of Stew Leonard’s in Norwalk. Conn. in 1969.