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Community Corner

Celtic Festival Celebrates 15 Years of Tradition

Organizers hope for increased turnout, vendors from canceled county Irish and Scottish festival.

Those eagerly awaiting to don their green and show their Irish pride next March can get a mid-year dose of kilts and bagpipers at this weekend’s .

The festival, now in its 15th year, will be held Saturday at . The celebration honors the Scottish roots of the residents who lived on the property more than 250 years ago, fusing 18th century culture with modern interpretations.

The day will offer myriad activities for adults, kids and all those in between — with a plethora of live entertainment, food and vendors.

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On the entertainment side, this year’s festival will offer more dance performances, with dancers from both the Sabo School of Irish Dance and the Timoney School of Irish Dance taking to the main stage at 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.

Music will be flooding from the stage all day, with pipers and drum players kicking off the opening flag-raising ceremony at 11:30 a.m. and returning for performances throughout the day.

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Two live bands — The Martin Family Band and The Hooligans — will regale with their tunes throughout the day, and Beth MacCausland, festival chairwoman, said each offers a unique interpretation of Celtic music.

“They’re two really high-energy bands,” MacCausland said. “The Martin Family you can just watch in amazement that their music is so awesome and upbeat and you can’t help but tap your foot to it and get up and dance. And the Hooligans have this great Celtic and rock sound at the same time. So they’re bands that people will really enjoy.”

Aside from the on-stage entertainment, guests can enjoy a kilt-making demonstration and learn from Civil War living historians with the 69th Pennsylvania Irish Volunteers and the 71st Regiment/Frasier’s Highlanders. Both groups will be set up in encampments explaining and demonstrating olden wartime traditions.

MacCausland said organizers strove to incorporate more interactive children’s activities this year, with dancers, bagpipers, kilt-makers and others skilled in Celtic heritage spending time throughout the day in the children’s area, explaining and demonstrating their skills or wares. Youngsters can try their own hand at Celtic-themed crafts and games or at the perennial Moonbounce. 

Vendors selling artisan crafts, merchandise and other goods will be set up throughout the festival.

The — held annually in September but axed earlier this year by Montgomery County because of budgetary restrictions — may have a trickle-down impact on the Celtic Heritage Festival.

MacCausland said organizers seem to be seeing an uptick in the number of vendors registering from previous years; she expects at least 50 to turn out, but said the weather often plays an important role in the final tally.

Since the Irish and Scottish Festival was sponsored by the county, admission to that event was free.

MacCausland said organizers are hoping that those festivalgoers will be willing to pay the admission fee for the Celtic Heritage Festival, especially since the money goes to a good cause.

“We depend on the admission fees to help run our site and keep Graeme Park open,” she said. "With the state budget being what it is, we’re basically flying on our own. We’re run by all volunteers and just two paid employees, so fundraising events like this help them to continue getting paid and help us to stay open and offer all that we do.”

Attendance in recent years has ranged between 750 to 1,500 people and, in addition to hoping for overflow from the Irish and Scottish Festival, MacCausland said organizers are eager for clear skies, as weather often plays a significant role in turnout.

While MacCausland said the charitable nature of the event is itself a great reason for locals to support the festival, the multitude of entertaining, yet educational, offerings should be just as enticing.

“When all the bagpipe bands are massing and come strolling in together down the hill from the Penrose house just piping away, it really sends a chill up your spine,” she said, noting that the diversity of the festival’s offerings appeals to people of all walks of life. “It’s not just cute little red-headed, freckled Irish girls. It doesn’t just appeal to the Irish or the Scottish, but a whole lot of different people because it’s fun, different and just a great way to spend a Saturday.”

Graeme Park's Celtic Heritage Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Cost is $10 for adults; $5 for youth (ages 6-17).

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