'All Things Irish' is March 7.

• Position: Coulter

CLINTON -- The Old Timer Restaurant and Tap Room, 155 Church St., will be kicking off the St. Patrick's season on March 7 with "All Things Irish,'' an annual fundraiser featuring traditional Irish music and lively Irish ballads and sing-alongs, step dancing to live music, Irish theme raffles and an Irish cookbook and resource guide.

Proceeds support people with disabilities in Massachusetts through the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, Inc. (www.poluscenter.org) which has offices in Clinton, Worcester, Petersham and Amesbury, and provides residential services for people with developmental disabilities.

The event begins at 5 p.m., with a presentation by author and professor Mary C. Kelly, entitled "Ireland's Great Famine in Irish-American History: a concise interpretation of the history of the Irish in America.''

Kelly will track Ireland's Great Famine within America's immigrant history, discussing the impact of the famine on Irish ethnic identity between the mid-1800s and the end of the 20th century. Kicking off and closing the presentation will be performances by students from the Bolton Community Music School.

Celtic Melody, a Connecticut-based group playing traditional Irish dance music and song, will play in the dining room from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Celtic Melody will play jigs, reels, hornpipes, slides, slip-jigs, hop-jigs, polkas and more. Interspersed with these tunes will be Irish standards, some of which will be danced to by dancers from the Irish Rhythm Music School.

The Boston Rovers, also known as the Jolly Rogues, an Irish folk band, will play in the dining room from 8:30 to 10 p.m. The band includes Paul Harty, a vocalist, guitarist, mandolinist, fiddler and harmonicist, and Jim Murray, who plays guitar and mandolin. Aisling Keating is an Irish native, who enjoys singing, playing tinwhistle and bodhran in the Boston area and in Ireland. Taylor Whiteside performed for many years both as a solo folksinger and in the Irish band Northeast Winds, which opened for The Clancy Brothers on their U.S. tours from 1985 through 2000. Mike Whitney adds lead and harmony...