Tiny Irish Village Goes Nuts for Obama

It's not often that drivers blink twice when passing the tiny Irish village of Moneygall, so one might imagine the frenzy that results when Barack Obama swings by for a visit tomorrow. Along with the country's trademark green and orange, locals have decked the County Offaly town out in red, white, and blue, opened an Obama Cafe, and started hawking Obama T-shirts in honor of the president's visit tomorrow, reports the Irish Times. The Offaly Independent has even been re-branded the Obama Independent.

Turns out Obama traces his lineage to Moneygall, in the form of an ancestor named Fulmouth Kearney. He'll visit Kearney's house in the village of 295 people, then is expected briefly at the town's pub. Says one distant cousin hoping to meet Obama, “I have no official confirmation if he is going to meet me. He’s coming to Moneygall. Everything else is a bonus.” Click through the gallery for scenes from Moneygall. (More Moneygall stories.)