By: Jeff Meade

Here we are at the end of another year. Time to stand out on the front porch in the cold, and welcome 2008 with the banging of pots and pans ... and to take one last look back at 2007 from the perspective of we Irish Philadelphians.

Faces of Irish Philadelphia 2007

Maybe you listened to Paul Moore singing in the music tent at the Wildwood Irish Festival. Possibly, you took in the Lunasa show put on by the Philadelphia Ceili Group in September. Perhaps you were at the Citizens Bank Park the day the Philly Phanatic smooched Vince Gallagher. Or maybe you marched in the Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day parade.

We were there, of course, at all of those events ... and at most of the GAA games at Cardinal Dougherty (including that last one in the pouring rain). We dropped by the Green Lane Festival, and we were there at the big Commodore Barry commemoration. We shot lots and lots of photos at the annual Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame dinner, the annual fund-raising concert for St. Malachy's, put on by Mick Moloney and his friends, and Kevin McGillian's 80th birthday party.

We said hello to so many great new friends, and bid goodbye to a few others.

Join us as we take a fond look back at all of the wonderful people who populate our stories and fill our hearts with gladness.