The 25th Niagara Celtic Heritage Festival & Highland Games will take place this weekend at the Niagara County fairgrounds, featuring pipe and drum bands, music and dance performances, cultural presentations, and dozens of food vendors.
The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available for presale at www.niagaraceltic.com or for cash at the gate. Military and senior discounts are available with valid identification. The festival has attracted more than 10,000 guests in recent years, including many with Irish, Scottish, or Welsh ancestry.
Rock-Celtic fusion bands are well represented on this year’s program. The Sisters Of Murphy band from Rochester take to the stage at 6 p.m. Saturday, combining rock, pop and traditional Irish elements in their music. Their high-energy performances mix original music with popular Irish classics.
On Sunday, bands Catch and Release perform at 1 p.m. and McCarthyizm at 3:30 p.m. Catch and Release plays traditional and modern Celtic/Irish songs, along with standards, polkas, and more.
Buffalo’s McCarthyizm blends 60s garage and 80s underground music into intelligent, infectious pop and Celtic rock.
The weekend event kicks off with Highland Games from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and continues Sunday with men’s and women’s age-level classes in stone throws, caber pole toss, and sheaf toss.
The noon opening ceremonies will feature nine massive pipe bands providing all the hums, drums, and tartan visitors crave. Pipe and drum bands will also perform individually throughout the weekend and together again at a memorial ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Niagara Highland Dance Academy performs Saturday at 2:50 p.m.
Sheep herding and broadsword fencing demonstrations will each take place twice on both Saturday and Sunday, along with a Wee Folk Shire and Storyteller’s Tree from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Visitors can learn about Celtic dragon lore at a presentation at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
A whisky tasting is scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, with additional pre-sale tickets required for that activity. At 6 p.m. Saturday, Tom Keefer of Wilson will perform with his band Celtic Cross and the day rounds out with a haggis-eating competition at 8:10 p.m.
Along with plenty of music, Sunday’s activities feature a miniature horse show at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., and a tug-of-war at 6 p.m.