When speaking to BBC News NI he brought along a clapper board, dog tag and Ranger Battalion jacket he kept from the set of Saving Private Ryan.

That clapper, William Sherman, a retiree from the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines, was more than happy to share his feeling.

Conservative forces were sufficiently worried about the optics, it appeared, that they were eager to pull in "talented clappers" from outside the community.

The event includes a cedar weaving demonstration, drum song and dance, and craft making traditional clappers.

They twirled wooden ratchets and batted plastic hand clappers emblazoned with the Unite Here logo.