The Brooklyn Papers / Tom Callan

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Irish eyes will be smiling in Dreier-Offerman Park as the 23rd Annual Great Irish Fair gets underway this weekend.

The two-day festival - from 10 am to 7 pm on Saturday, Sept. 6, and Sunday, Sept. 7 - will feature an array of traditional crafts, dance, games, food and Irish pipe bands.

The festival, which benefits Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, is considered among the largest Irish festivals in the world.

Traditionally, a "Chief Brehon" and "Colleen Queen" are selected to preside over the fair. This year, those honors are going to Frank Comerford, of Bay Ridge, president and general manager of WNBC-TV, and Kimberly Muldoon, of Sheepshead Bay, a graduate student in psychology at Hunter College.

"Irish culture and fun are fairly synonymous, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend than with a bunch of Brooklyn Irishmen," said Comerford, who recently moved back to his childhood home in Bay Ridge after a 30-year sojourn from the county of kings.

The Timothy Stackpole Memorial Award, a new citation for bravery and dedication to public service, established in honor of Fire Department Capt. Timothy Stackpole, will be given to Dennis McDermott, of Gravesend, alumni director at St. Francis College.

Stackpole, who died in rescue efforts at the World Trade Center, was presented with the Irishman of the Year award just weeks before at the 2001 Great Irish Fair.

Stackpole, of Midwood, was honored for his heroism and heroic recovery from severe burns he received while aiding in rescue efforts in a 1998 East New York fire that killed two other firefighters. He spent 66 days in a burn unit. His physical rehabilitation required dozens of surgeries and painful skin grafts. But Stackpole returned to duty and was serving out of a firehouse in Downtown Brooklyn on Sept. 11, 2001.

This year’s Irishman of the Year award will be presented to Police Department Detective Edward Connolly, of Dyker Heights, who is assigned to the Manhattan district attorney’s squad and is president of the NYPD Emerald Society.

Dreier-Offerman Park is located off Shore Parkway between Cropsey Avenue and Bay 44th Street in Gravesend. A free shuttle bus will run between the park and the W line subway station at Stillwell Avenue between 9:30 am and 8 pm. Free parking is also available.

Admission is $10, free for children ages 12 and younger. For more information, call (718) 330-1234, or visit the Catholic Charities Web site at www.ccbq.org.

©2003 Community Newspaper Group