It was Donegal's night at the New York premiere of Dancing at Lughnasa. The "Landmark on the Park" was the venue for the party afterwards, and our debonair Minister for Tourism, Jim McDaid, invited the 700 guests to visit Ireland next year, when we start our millennium celebrations a year early. The good doctor wants even more Americans to visit Ireland, and he won't let slip a chance to promote his home county, where Brian Friel's story is set.
This odd venue (a church by day) buzzed with famous faces in the Irish-American community. Noel Pearson looked unflappable and totally unconcerned about what the film reviews might bring, and the McCourt brothers - Malachy and Frank - were networking enthusiastically, as is their wont. But Meryl Streep was the person everyone wanted to see, and most did. In the flesh she is slighter than on screen, and she had dressed down in an ankle-length grey dress split at the sides over black trousers.
The young Glenties musicians and dancers who stole the post-party show got a private audience with her, and one said she was "wild nice to us". She heard them at a post-filming party in Donegal earlier this year and was so impressed that she asked them to play for the premiere.
And when the group of 12- to 18-year-olds took to the stage, the audience, including actors Aidan Quinn, Massimo Ferragamo and Minnie Driver, paid them the tribute of stopping the buzz of conversation and gathering round for a spirited display of Irish music and dancing.
And what about the W word? (Wicklow, of course, the county where most of Lughnasa was filmed). Not much joy for Donegal tourism in going on about that. (See Weekend 16)