The 2003 Poster of the Colorado Irish Festival

Internationally reknowned artist and illustrator Howard David Johnson created the striking artwork for this year's poster, titled "Dechtire, Mother of Cuchulainn", a prominent figure in Celtic Mythology.

Cuchulainn was an ancient Gaelic hero who was endowed with superhuman qualities. His name means 'The Hound of Culainn', but he was first called Setanta. At the age of five he left home to join the Red Branch Knights, the Ulster army of the king Conor Mac Nessa. With him he took his hurley, his silver ball, his javelin and his spear. He would hit the silver ball with the hurley, leap forward and hit it a second time before it touched the ground, toss the javelin ahead and then the spear, run after them all, catch the ball and javelin with one hand and the spear with the other. When he reached the palace at Emain Macha (Armagh), he beat 150 boys at hurling and other games. Cuchulainn achieved his name at the age of seven when he killed the watch dog of Ulster belonging to Culainn', the smith and in return undertook to protect the kingdom of Ulster and its people himself.