By: Denise Foley

Jenny Larson and Natalie Larson, 15-year-old twins, are double jeopardy competitors from the Coyle School in Harrisburg.

If this weekend’s event is any gauge, this is what to expect when the World Irish Dancing Championships reel into town in ’09:

A minor earthquake. Irish dancers never stop dancing. Ever. They danced up and down the hallways, in the ladies rooms, around the lobby, out on Market Street. ... Irish dancers do not walk or run. They dance. If you weren’t careful, you could have been jigged or hornpiped to death.

Something that looks like a Shirley Temple convention. Ah, the wigs. “It’s amazing how they can find them to match their hair,” said one Marriott employee, transfixed by the bobbing curls. The wigs are a fairly recent addition to Irish step dancing—they started to show up in the 1980s, the “big hair” era. The Mummer-like costumes are also of modern vintage. (Some of the intricately embroidered solo dresses can cost $1,000 or more, hence the huge market in gently danced-in costumes.) Historically, dancers wore their Sunday best—and that applied to hair as well as clothes.

Lots of grinning, giggling, gorgeous little girls having a great time. Some of them will be accompanied by obnoxious stage moms and dads, but the little girls don’t seem to pay them much attention. Thank heaven for little girls.