Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Coffee Hour at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can discuss what’s happening in our lives, what we’ve been working on, and our opinions on current events. Today’s topic is Irish music and dance.
An Ri Ra is an annual Irish music festival held in Butte, America. Butte was founded as a mining town and became known as the Richest Hill on Earth because of its massive copper reserves. When the copper mines in Ireland shut down because of English corporate greed, Irish miners came to the mines in Butte. While the Irish who came to Boston and New York arrived in well-established cities and were relegated to the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder, Butte was a thriving new city and the Irish came to be in charge.
Butte is a mile high—it is over a mile high in elevation—and a mile deep—the depth of the mines which were sunk into the hill. Mining operations shifted from the underground mines to open pit mining. The Berkeley pit soon devoured entire neighborhoods and small towns. When it was shut down it soon filled with a toxic pool of water.
![photo DSCN7691_zpsiof4sivt.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN7691_zpsiof4sivt.jpg)
Shown above is the view of the pit from our campsite on our first morning in Butte.
![photo DSCN8103_zpstaslcsij.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8103_zpstaslcsij.jpg)
This is the same view the next morning after thick smoke for the forest fires moved in.
![photo DSCN8104_zps2bbieqvw.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8104_zps2bbieqvw.jpg)
![photo DSCN8126_zpscgg9nzxi.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8126_zpscgg9nzxi.jpg)
An Ri Ra is held at the Original Mine Yard. The head frame—the large steel framework which once serve to lower miners into the mine and to bring the ore out—is now the stage for musical events.
![photo DSCN8105_zpsim37inxr.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8105_zpsim37inxr.jpg)
![photo DSCN8171_zpsg4hxk18d.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8171_zpsg4hxk18d.jpg)
![photo DSCN8109_zpsmtl7sreg.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8109_zpsmtl7sreg.jpg)
Shown above is Cathy Ryan who greeted the crowd with the traditional “HELLO BUTTE AMERICA.”
![photo DSCN8115_zps76fzcjbg.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8115_zps76fzcjbg.jpg)
![photo DSCN8116_zpsbmbmcnxm.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8116_zpsbmbmcnxm.jpg)
![photo DSCN8130_zpsauglrcmu.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8130_zpsauglrcmu.jpg)
![photo DSCN8152_zpsfrrantce.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8152_zpsfrrantce.jpg)
Shown above is traditional dancer Kevin Doyle. Unused to the mile-high elevation, he was sometimes gasping for breath. Oxygen tanks were available for the performers.
![photo DSCN8132_zpszrwfck9k.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8132_zpszrwfck9k.jpg)
![photo DSCN8135_zpsbqqims5h.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8135_zpsbqqims5h.jpg)
![photo DSCN8136_zpsb7d4h7nf.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8136_zpsb7d4h7nf.jpg)
![photo DSCN8137_zpslzs2mpbu.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8137_zpslzs2mpbu.jpg)
![photo DSCN8159_zpsziih3hxc.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8159_zpsziih3hxc.jpg)
![photo DSCN8161_zpsr80llvtu.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8161_zpsr80llvtu.jpg)
![photo DSCN8162_zpsz7plbufk.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8162_zpsz7plbufk.jpg)
![photo DSCN8167_zpsfnmylpf7.jpg](http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/Ojibwa/Butte%20%202015/DSCN8167_zpsfnmylpf7.jpg)
People also danced on the ground in front of the stage.
This is an open thread. Feel free to talk about anything that is concerning you today.