Since Wren calculated wrong on the fighting Irish of Notre Dame, I thought I'd give it a shot!

beltain

dln - it's worth a shot. My guess is religion. I've had enough of surfing google and I'm leaving for dinner in a few minutes.

Beltane?

Woops, that's only 7 letters. Beltaine? Or am I totally off track?

Je m'appelle "clueless".

I hope you all know you have my husband hopelessly hooked on this! The first thing he used to do when he got home (after the beer in hand) was check his e-mails. Now he checks you know what!

Well just checkin' don't do us no good, HubbyBubba. Jump on in here and cough up some answers!

Nope. No one's gotten it yet. Let me know if you need another clue, though I'm having a hard time thinking of one.

That's tellin'em BR.

St. Cirq, if you would be so kind as to give us another clue...

OK. What you might get if you combined a popular cartoon frog with your teenager's bedroom.

kermesse??

That's it! Over to you...

I think the reason people had a hard time is that it is not really an 8-letter word in English. Wren obviously had it, but it should 6 or 7 letters if you're using English language: kermis or kermess or kirmess. In French: kermesse.

You all must have amazing concentration (and a great deal of free time?) to be able to stick with this game!

That was a fun one, lol. Great second clue, too!

barzelletta, it's a nice diversion after a long day. Glad you could join us!

Not such a brain strain...another 8 letter word with the e as the fourth letter.
Clue:
this Cosmo is not on Seinfeld.

Cosmo de' Medici?

Good Job, Barzeletta... now it's your turn to build on my clue and I am going to turn in...been up since before 6AM.