[caption id="attachment_67888" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Michael D. for Derry. "]
He will be President Michael D. Higgins as of Friday.
And with the title as his introduction, Ireland’s ninth constitutional head of state will step across the border this coming Sunday, his first port of call being Derry.
Higgins has been invited to present the winning trophy in a school choir contest at the city’s Millennium Forum.
The Higgins visit will also come at the end of a week in which Derry, city and county, is feted on this side of the Atlantic along with its neighboring county, Donegal.
This will be at the 4th annual Golden Bridges Awards and Showcase at the Seaport Boston Hotel on Thursday and Friday of this week, Nov. 10 and 11. The event is being hosted by the Irish Echo.
Golden Bridges, which is intended to honor the economic, political and social bridge builders between the United States and Ireland, has shown itself to be a hugely popular event in a city and state where, more than any other, the Irish of America have made their singular mark.
This year’s awards spotlight Boston and Massachusetts Irish Americans who are building business alliances, as well as educational and cultural partnerships between Boston and Ireland, but with a special emphasis on the Northwest of Ireland, and the aforementioned counties of Donegal and Derry.
Along with the awards luncheon there will be a series of seminar discussions involving key business leaders, public officials and community representatives who will focus on links between Massachusetts and Ireland and issues pertaining to mutual investment.
Among the speakers at the two day gathering will be Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, Massachusetts State Senate President Therese Murray, State Representative Charles Murphy, and State Representative Eugene O’Flaherty.
