By Darlene Brace
This weekend, August 23rd and 24th, you are invited to the 17th Annual Jamestown Regional Celtic Festival with the Gathering of the Clans. This festival is a community event celebrating the culture and heritage of the seven Celtic nations, and it takes place at the Lakeside Park in Mayville. There will be over twenty clans represented. Each clan will have a booth to display its own unique heritage.
One of the main highlights of this festival is live music that will take place in tents and in the beer and wine garden. To kick off the festival Friday evening, there will be a Canadian Celtic rock band called Mudmen. They entertain audiences throughout Ontario, Canada as well as a few festivals and venues in the United States. They will entertain the crowd with their high energy Celtic rock from 6pm-9pm. Come and enjoy the beer and wine garden while listening to this talented band. The beer and wine garden will have a variety of beer including Guinness, Smithwick’s, Harp Lagers, and a few Southern Tier beers. Merritt Winery’s Slush Bus will be there, serving their popular wine slushes.
Full Day of Music Saturday
On Saturday, the festival really gets in full swing starting at 9am, and there will be a full day of events until 10:30pm. The 96 Highlanders will be performing Saturday at 10am and 1pm near Piper’s Circle behind the gazebo. There will be a Massed Band Performance at 12pm and at 5pm, in which all seven pipe bands play as one, and it will include over one hundred pipers.
There are several other local bands, Celtic bands, at least seven pipe bands, and eight Celtic bands performing some time on Saturday. The planning committee is still working on the details of the line-up schedule of some of the performances, and it will soon be posted. Some other entertainment will include Scottish and Irish dancers that will perform throughout the day, as well as old fashioned fiddle sessions
Saturday night, a special performance by Tuatha Dea will start at 6pm. Tuatha Dea is translated from an old Irish phrase to mean “children of the gods” (see full story in last week’s The Villager www.thevillagerny.com). The band members have embraced their Celtic heritage. They play a fun mix of Irish and Scottish music. They give their music a rock spin and combine it with a blend of Americana/root music along with Appalachian blues to form their own unique sound.
Heavy Athletics Competition
Besides live music, one of the main highlights of the Celtic Festival is the Heavy Athletics Competition. Heavy Athletics refers to Scottish athletic events which require significant strength and power. Male and female contestants will compete in several events that may include a caber toss, sheaf toss, a hammer throw, a stone put, and more. Plaques will be awarded to the winners.
Food Vendors
After all this excitement you are sure to have worked up an appetite. There will be food vendors such as Sandy’s Bakery, 3’C’s , Fowler’s Foods, and Mister D’s to name a few. If you are looking to satisfy that “sweet tooth”, there will be fried dough, sugar waffles, kettle corn, candy apples, and the Infamous Welsh Cookie Company. What would a festival be without all these delicious foods and treats.
Arts
Besides food vendors, there will be a wide variety of artisan vendors as well as other local vendors. They will be displaying specialty items such as art, home décor, jewelry, candles, woodworking, books, accessories, T-shirts, bagpipes, kilts, and much more.
Fun for the Whole Family
For children, there will be face painting and a Clan Hunt. The Clan Hunt is a fun learning experience in which children are given a map of Scotland. Then they go to the booths of the different clans and get their map stamped on the location of each clan on the map. When they complete the Clan Hunt, they will be given a ribbon with a festival medal.
The festival planners would like to thank all its sponsors, as this festival would not be possible without them. They also want people to know that they are still looking for more volunteers to help with the festival. The festival is handicapped accessible and that there is free parking (although donations are encouraged). There will be a free shuttle to assist attendees throughout the festival. Please remember that there will be no pets or outside food or drinks permitted.
For ticket pricing and other important information, go online to 96thhighlanders.com. You will also find updated line-ups of the band schedules on the Jamestown Regional Celtic Festival’s Facebook page.
It doesn’t matter if you are of Celtic heritage to join in the fun. It’s sure to be a great festival that you don’t want to miss. Come to Mayville and enjoy all the amazing festivities that the 17th Jamestown Regional Celtic Festival has to offer.