As MSNBC showed President Barack Obama dancing with his wife Michelle at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball Jan. 20, Snoqualmie Valley residents crowded into Finaghty’s Irish Pub & Restaurant to celebrate their new president.

Dan McCrea and his wife Christina Jackson organized the gathering by e-mailing friends and posting community invitations on moveon.org, an Obama Web site. McCrea didn’t expect many to attend, considering how last minute he had planned the event. But about 40 people came, many wearing Obama buttons and shirts.

“We felt a strong need to celebrate all of the work that we’ve done to bring Barack Obama to office and to end the last few years of what we feel, and how many Republicans feel, to be a failed presidency,” McCrea said. “Doing this kind of thing is a lot of fun because it develops community.”

Many of the participants focused on a new beginning for the country and shared in the celebratory spirit.

“What’s happening today is a historical moment,” Bryan Finney said. “Here we are, 2,500 miles away from the Washington, D.C. festivities and people are probably as excited here as they are on the mall.”

Democrat Mia Larson recounted how she watched the inauguration with her Republican husband.

“He said, ‘Here we go. We’re going to be a socialist country,’” Larson remembered. “I said, ‘Can’t you just be hopeful for one day?’”

Valerie Husemann mentioned the political parties in another light.

“I really didn’t think we had any Democrats here,” she said, surprised at the turnout.

A few children raced around Finaghty’s during dinner. Some parents kept their children home to see the inauguration, but other students saw it during school or caught video clips of it online. 

But not everyone had caught of glimpse of the inauguration.

“I was working,” Vern Goodwin said. “That old, American pastime.” 

His wife, Linda Goodwin, watched it at home.

“I was really stunned at first at the amount of people in the mall,” she said, referencing the more than a million people who watched the ceremony at the nation’s capital. 

Dan McInerney said he enjoyed the Rev. Rick Warren’s invocation.

“It was just uplifting,” McInerney said. “It wasn’t controversial, it was inclusive.”

In lieu of watching the inauguration, Patti Pitcher and her home-schooled son Aiden Hall listened to it on the radio.

“I loved the poem,” Pitcher said. “It was really beautiful.”

Julia Shaw, a 12-year-old who came to the party with her mother Dana and her sister Amelia, stayed home to watch the inauguration, before going to school. Shaw already volunteers, but she said Obama’s day of service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day had inspired her to volunteer more in the community. 

“On the news, it said that hundreds and hundreds of people had volunteered giving food to the homeless,” Shaw said. “I want to do more stuff like that.”

“Now we want to go to Washington, D.C.,” Dana Shaw said.

Overall, most people said they enjoyed the ceremonies, and many called Obama’s speech the pinnacle. 

Linda Rubin of Snoqualmie made reference to Obama’s line, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

“I just thought, this is my America,” Rubin said. “This is how I want to live.”

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

After a year of serving burgers and booking bands, Finaghty’s Irish Pub & Restaurant is inviting the Snoqualmie Valley to celebrate its anniversary with professional athletes and eight bands.

The headliner for the bands is Pacific Northwest alternative rock band Everclear, the 1998 Billboard Modern Rock Band of the year.

The band Everclear.

Since opening, Finaghty’s has held community benefits for Children’s Hospital and sponsored the Railroad Days Fun Run and several little league teams.

“For us, it’s an extension of the community and a way to put back into the community,” said Finaghty’s co-owner, Phil Stafford.

Stafford started the pub with his partner and co-owner Lisa McCord. The two lived on Snoqualmie Ridge for about five years, before a friend sparked the idea of starting a restaurant.

Stafford and McCord had run other businesses, but “we’d never opened our own restaurant before,” Stafford said. 

The duo wanted a place where people could hang out, watch sports and eat dinner with their family. Since his mother’s side of the family was Irish, Stafford dubbed the pub Finaghty’s, which roughly translates into “Cheers, to your health!”

Since the new year, Finaghty’s seating space has doubled. Stafford and McCord bought the adjacent space once occupied by Nick-N-Willy’s Pizza and added darts and pool to the pub’s recreation.

“We were already at capacity every night and weekend, so we were really wanting to expand. Most of the families didn’t want to wait an hour for a table,” Stafford said. “We were losing business.”

Three days of concerts, prizes and celebrities will do nothing but add to the crowd. 

The festivities begin at 7726 Center Blvd. S.E., Suite 110, Snoqualmie at 9 p.m. Jan. 22 with performances by The Fentons and The Paul Brownlow Band. The following night, Hiwatt and Love Trucker will play starting at 8 p.m. 

The anniversary culminates Jan. 24 with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 12 p.m. and Seattle Sounders and Seahawks flooding the pub for celebrity athlete autograph sessions from 1-5 p.m. Chicago blues artist Keith Scott will perform from 6-7:30 p.m., before Finaghty’s opens its doors for people 21 or older at 8 p.m.

After paying a $10 cover charge, patrons will get an up close and personal concert with Sugar Farm, Everclear and Snoqualmie’s The Steve Bell Band. 

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Art Alexakis of Everclear will be joined by bassist Sammy Hudson and guitarist Davey French, who works at Snoqualmie Ridge Music.

Alexakis said the band would be playing popular hits like “Santa Monica” and “I Will Buy You a New Life.” The Portland rock star may take his wife and two daughters with him for the Snoqualmie show — a trip he made last winter when playing at Finaghty’s Children’s Hospital auction, which raised about $70,000.

Alexakis called Finaghty’s “a really small bar with a really small stage,” but said he would like to play more often at smaller venues.

“It’s still very rewarding,” Alexakis said.

As for performing so soon after a flood, Alexakis said he was used to the water after living on the West coast.

“You get accustomed to the rain,” Alexakis said. “I don’t know if you ever really like it this time of year. It brings a tension to anyone’s music or songwriting.”

Like Everclear, many of the other bands have played at Finaghty’s during the past year.

Matthew Paige, guitarist and vocalist for Vancouver’s Love Trucker said the pub had “a lot more intimate space. You can see everyone. It’s more in your face.”

Andy Volmer from Redmond’s HiWatt, said his band would play cover and original songs.

“Phil and Lisa treat us really well,” Volmer said. “It’s probably one of the best places that we play.”

Stafford hopes to continue the varied entertainment at the pub.

“We wanted to bring some top quality music from out into the area,” Stafford said. “Going into next year, I’m really gong to expand that with national acts and local bands as well.”

The Snoqualmie Casino and other Valley businesses are gearing up to usher in 2009.

A variety of New Year’s Eve entertainment options in Snoqualmie Valley are available for visitors and residents. The new Snoqualmie Casino is offering four New Year’s Eve events that they describe as “spectacular,” and two Snoqualmie pubs are also preparing to celebrate the new year with special events.

Snoqualmie Casino’s New Year’s Eve Extravaganza begins at 9 p.m. in the Snoqualmie Ballroom, with gourmet cuisine, chilled champagne, glittering party favors and live entertainment by two of the Seattle area’s favorite party bands, the Afrodisiacs and the Spazmatics. Tickets for the casino ballroom event are $175 per person.

Younger crowds who prefer to rock in the new year can do so with American Idol star Blake Lewis and DJ SupaSam at the casino’s Club SNO. The casino expects Lewis to keep the excitement alive with his unique sound and electrifying stage performance. Doors will open at 8 p.m., and tickets for Blake Lewis’s New Year’s Eve performance are $75.

Tickets for both the New Year’s Eve Extravaganza and the Blake Lewis performance are available through Ticketmaster by calling 206-628-0888, or online at www.ticketmaster.com, or at the Snoqualmie Casino Box Office.

Gourmands might prefer checking out the casino’s Terra Vista Restaurant, which is offering an exquisite five-course menu. The Prix Fixe menu includes a champagne toast and begins at 9 p.m. Tickets for the Prix Fixe are $125. The restaurant will also feature its regular menu offerings from 4 to 8 p.m. Reservations are available through www.opentable.com or by phone at 425-888-1234.

The casino’s fourth and final offering for New Year’s Eve is in the LIT Cigar Lounge. The exclusive event will feature cigars, a champagne toast and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets for the LIT event are $100, and can be purchased at the Snoqualmie Valley Casino box office.

If the casino is not your scene, a couple of other Snoqualmie businesses are offering New Year’s Eve parties. The new Woodman’s Lodge at 38601 SE King Street in Snoqualmie is hosting Swingtime Express with singer Janet West. The band will play swing music from the 30s and 40s from about 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The full event at the Woodman’s Lodge begins at 8 p.m. and costs $75 a person, which includes a four-course dinner with champagne toasts as guests arrive and at midnight.

Woodman Lodge owner Peter LaHaye said that tickets for the New Year’s Eve celebration are almost sold out, but if there is room in the lodge, people without tickets will be allowed in after 10 p.m. to join the swing dance and ring in the new year. 

If you do not want to buy tickets for an event, then Finaghty’s Irish Pub and Restaurant on Snoqualmie Ridge might be the place for you. Finaghty’s will offer live music and fun without a cover charge. The pub plans to host the music of Johnny Smokes. 

Reach reporter Michael Rowe at mrowe@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.