I’ve had a very unusual life, I grew up in Aberystwyth, moved to London at 22, then Chicago at 23. I walked through the Celtic Fest in Chicago in 1998 and saw no Welsh representation, so in 1999 I founded the first Welsh tent at the festival, and the Chicago Tafia was born.

We took Wales at the festival, from “who are they” to .”where did they come from”

The whole thing came about after watching the Welsh film “House” at Pipers Alley in Chicago, and a girl from Merthyr and a guy from Aberystwyth, wanting to set up a place for Welsh immigrants to get advice.

Over the years, we have offered Welsh lessons in Chicago, worked with six Welsh male voice choirs, and a load of Welsh musicians on gigs in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest.

For the past 11 years, the Wrigley Building in Chicago has lit up Red, White & Green on March 1st, and since 2018, Navy Pier, Prudential Plaza, the InterContinental Hotel and other buildings light up in the Welsh colours for St. David’s Day.

Cerys Matthews performed and hung out at our St. David’s day party in 2007, I smoked pot with the Goldie Lookin Chain, I heard Bryn Terfel’s booming laugh behind us when an emcee said “do you have any Welsh in you” and my ex-wife said louder than she though “every now and then”

For the Dylan Thomas 100 anniversary, we gathered on his birthday at a pub he drank at in the 1950’s in Chicago, where one of our members bosses back in the day, drove him home and he apparently puked in the back of his car...

I got to have many, many gin & tonics one night with Aeronwy Thomas (Dylan’s daughter) in Chicago, only a year or so before she died.

To the future, I hope to hell this ordeal of a crazy president and and a horrid virus is over by next year. Looking forward to doing events at our favorite establishments and getting together our Welsh gang.