Ryan’s Fancy was a musical group active from 1969 – 1983, all three of whose members were Irish immigrants to Canada.

Denis Ryan, Fergus O'Byrne, and Dermot O'Reilly, were originally members of the Sons of Erin. The original Sons of Erin line-up featured Dermot and Fergus along with Gary Kavanagh and band leader Ralph O'Brien. When the band broke up Dermot, Fergus and Gary continued on for one tour as O'Reilly's Men and upon returning to Toronto met up with Don Sullivan to form the original Sullivan's Gypsies. Ralph O'Brien reformed The Sons Of Erin with new members Johnnie Lynn, John Cameron and Denis Ryan and recorded a self-titled LP. Shortly afterward Denis left to join Sullivan's Gypsies. Ryan's Fancy came to be when Sullivan's Gypsies parted ways.

The trio relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1971 to attend Memorial University of Newfoundland. Making a splash in the local music scene, the group landed the first of several television series. Produced by Jack Kellum on CBC, the show involved the trio travelling and playing across Atlantic Canada. Ryan's Fancy had their own syndicated series called Ryan's Fancy (January 1972 to April 1972) and the pub-styled Tommy Makem and Ryan's Fancy (July to September 1974). Plus, in 1980, they starred and performed in the CBC-TV movie Pirate's Gold. It was in this period that accordion virtuoso James Keane from Dublin became a band-member and contributor of traditional music to the ballad-focused trio. Shortly after Keane left the band, Ryan's Fancy split. Keane moved to New York City where he became part of the traditional scene there through the 1980s to the present day.

Buffets, Inc., with corporate offices in Eagan, Minnesota is a company that owns American national chains of buffets.

As of January, 2008, Buffets, Inc. and its affiliated companies operated at least 626 restaurants in 39 states.

The company was founded by Roe Hatlen and C. Dennis Scott in 1983. Scott left in 1989 to start HomeTown, but the two chains merged back together in September 1996. The current Chief Executive Officer is R. Michael Andrews.

On November 1, 2006, Buffets Inc. acquired Ryan's Restaurant Group adding 340 Ryan's Grill Buffet and Bakery and Fire Mountain Grills locations.

On January 22, 2008, Buffets Inc. filed for bankruptcy, under Chapter 11. Although all restaurants were said to be staying open and continuing to operate normally under the then-current reorganization plan, the company called for the immediate closing of 52 stores nationwide, effective February 12, 2008. The final day of normal business operations in these stores, as well as the announcement of closing to all team members in said stores, took place the previous day.

Thomas "Tommy" Makem (November 4, 1932 – August 1, 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" (taken from a traditional song of the same name) and "The Godfather of Irish Music".

Makem was born and raised in Keady, County Armagh (the "Hub of the Universe" as Makem always said), in Northern Ireland. His mother, Sarah Makem, was an important source of traditional Irish music, who was visited and recorded by, among others, Diane Guggenheim Hamilton, Jean Ritchie, Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. His father, Peter Makem, was a fiddler who also played the bass drum in a local pipe band named "Oliver Plunkett", after a martyr of the Cromwell age. His brother and sister were folk musicians also. Young Tommy Makem, from the age of 8, was member of the St. Patrick's church choir for 15 years where he sang Gregorian chant and motets. He didn't learn to read music but he made it in his "own way".