Whitehall trio performs

Far away from the madness of St. Patrick's Day in uptown Butte, the Handing Down the Heritage Festival has garnered a reputation of a family friendly celebration with music and dancing for all ages.

The 22nd annual event at the Butte Civic Center once again featured the Tiernan Irish Dancers. Three Whitehall residents are part of the dancers that took to the stage March 17. Hope and Ceili Moriarty, and Shayla Hamilton all performed to a huge crowd at the event.

In her first year with the team, Hamilton performed with the Beginner 1 and 2 dancers. Despite being nervous, the 10-year-old fourth grade student was happy with how she did.

"It was a fun and new experience for me," she said.

10-year-old Hope Moriarty was no stranger to the Handing Down the Heritage event. She has been performing with the dancers since she was a toddler. Hope performed with the Novice 1, 2, 3 and 4 Dancers. She said it is scary to perform in front of that big of a crowd, but it was still fun, especially during the final ceremony.

It was also an emotional night for Hope, who said she and many other dancers cried when senior members of the group Connor Ford, McKenna Savage, Jacee Sprunger and Victoria Templin were honored during the event.

Despite being just four, this was not the first time performing at the event for Ceili, who smiled while saying she was not scared at all. Ceili had previously performed with the fairies and has since moved to the Beginner 1 and 2 group. She said her favorite part of the night was dancing the "Triangle Jig".

Hamilton added that she was really happy with how she did, but did say she messed up one part of her dance. Ceili quickly turned to Hamilton and said with a laugh, "Well I didn't".