 May 2008
Friends, Fun, Food and Folklore at Inaugural May Celtic Festival
They are a group of people with a remarkable history and can be described as a collection of tribes with the frame of cultures, music and similarities. Their history is dotted with conflicts and battles between each tribe and their individual leaders, and some may argue that his particular legacy still exists today. They can be traced back to 600 BC. They represent 60,000 plus residents in the City of Greater Sudbury. They are the “Celts!”
On Saturday, May 24, 2008, Bell Park will come alive with pageantry of the massed pipes and drums, the strength and brute force of the Scottish Athletes, the songs, stories and traditions passed down from our Irish, Scottish and French Canadian ancestors, and the smells of traditional meals that will bring back memories from Grandmother’s kitchen. It will be a full day of friends, fun, food, and folklore as we celebrate our Celtic Heritage during the Inaugural Greater Sudbury Celtic Festival and Highland Games.
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Derek Young (left) the organizer of the inaugural Greater Sudbury Celtic and Highland Games is shown at the Bell Park Amphitheatre with well-known local musician, Andrew Lowe, event Chieftain, Police Chief Ian Davidson and Dean Eyre a member of the Police Pipe Band |
The Celts gave us Iron Age, which gave us the use of the plough that led to better farming, closer communal living and the advent of the Clan system. The Celts occupied the areas we call Eastern Europe (France, Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, and even Greece, The Balkans, Spain, Northern Italy, and Nordic regions as far as the Himalayas.) Aside from being farmers the Celts were also fighters and held Rome to ransom, were paid and left, while leaving us with Celtic works of art that can be linked to each country or area previously mentioned. Their artistic legacy can be traced back to Celtic design of jewelry, love of dyes and colours used in weaving of cloth, tartans and plaids, and many fine sculptures.
Today, the Celtic tongue can be heard with variations in dialect in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain, France, The Isles of Man, Eastern Canada, and Ontario. The Celtic music and stories remain a strong part of the heritage. The music can be as soft as a gentle breeze, as wild as a crashing sea, or a rugged as the mountains, harmonies of voices tainted by dialect, music played on fiddles and harps or blended and stirred by the pipes and drums.
Life has not changed much for the Celtic people. They still love their families which were called Fines, they still love their extended families which were called Clans, they still like to have parties, tell tales, read poems, sing songs, and are still competitive, respect the little people, the fairies, the mystical and they still love.
The Greater Sudbury Celtic and Highlands Games will celebrate the little people with our extended families. It will be a party that will allow us to share our songs and stories and offer a little bit of competitiveness.
The timing of the inaugural event coincides with the City of Greater Sudbury’s 125th Anniversary as well as some milestone anniversaries of some of our participants such as the Sudbury and District Pipes & Drums who are celebrating their 85th anniversary, 200 Wolf Squadron Air Cadet Pipe Band celebrating their 65th anniversary and the Greater Sudbury Police Pipes and Drums celebrating their 20th anniversary.
The idea of the festival was conceived by Derek Young, who has been working with a volunteer committee and active community partners such as Comhaltas Sudbury Branch and the Greater Sudbury Police Service to produce an event that will celebrate the local Celtic community and create a flavour for the culture allowing the festival to grow into a premier ranked tourism destination.
This year’s festival will feature local singers and dancers from Comhaltas Sudbury Branch, a variety show from Fiddleworks, The Vale Inco Canadian Federation of Scottish Athletes Heavy Games, The Northern Ontario School of Scottish Dance, Peddler’s Pub Cheers Tent, the massed pipes and drums with all our local pipe bands participating, food vendors and retailers selling specialty Scottish and Irish imports.
The day will wrap up with an evening concert featuring Fig for a Kiss with Sudbury’s own Duncan Cameron returning home to share the stage with Andrew Lowe and the 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron Pipes and Drums. Fig for a Kiss is an exciting quartet with a fresh approach to Celtic music. They combined soulful songs and lively fiddle tunes with outstanding accompaniment and improvisation. Andrew Lowe will be offering Sudburians a different style by singing traditional ballads from his CD “Inheritance” and the audience is in for a treat when the 400 Squadron Pipe Band takes to the stage in preparation for the 2008 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland this summer.
Our Chieftain of the Games, Chief of Police Ian Davidson will officially declare the Festival and Highland Games open at 12pm during the opening ceremony. “I am very proud to have been asked to act as Chieftain of the Games. In part because of my Scottish background, but I also have a strong appreciation for the history and relevance of the pipes and drums to the police profession” said Chief Davidson.
This will be a tremendous day for the family. Advance festival day passes are on sale now at the Sudbury Arena Box Office or at www.greatersudbury.ca. Gate admission will increase to $10 for adults and $2 for children under age 12 day of festival. For more information please call 705-691-5677 or email: celticfestival@persona.ca
Derek Young and
Bernard Andrews |
