The St. Augustine Celtic Music & Heritage Festival will be held March 11-12. Top international and U.S. Celtic bands, Highland games, workshops, lectures, Celtic food and artisan crafts, and a St. Patrick Day parade will be featured, plus a special whiskey-tasting event on March 10.
The Celtic Music & Heritage Festival and activities will be held at Francis Field, 29 W. Castillo Drive in St. Augustine. The events are produced by Romanza-St. Augustine Inc.
Tickets for the festival may be purchased online at celticstaugustine.com/tickets or at Ann O’Malley’s Irish Pub, 23 Orange St. in St. Augustine, and during the festival at the gate. The whiskey tasting will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. with a variety of offerings and acoustic music by The Steel City Rovers. Whiskey tasting limited-seating tickets are available online only.
The festival will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. March 11 and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 12. Touring bands from Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the U.S. will play traditional songs and Celtic rock throughout the two-day festival. An extensive music line-up includes Albannach, Dublin City Ramblers, Seven Nations, Steel City Rovers, La Unica, Syr, Jamison and Dragonfly. Chad Light is the main stage host and emcee.
Additional entertainment, lectures and workshops will be on the second stage with host Robert Burns.
Tickets include a variety of entertainment options for both days.
Vendors will offer Celtic cuisine along with a variety of foods and beverages, as well as handmade and imported Celtic crafts.
According to Pat Syeles, festival director, the events were first produced in 2011 and have increased in significance and attendance with awards for best music festival and best food festival in Northeast Florida. The music of the Celtic people of Scotland and Ireland and the seven Celtic nations will be celebrated in St. Augustine, founded in 1565 by Spanish Celts.
St. Augustine’s four centuries of Celtic heritage will also be highlighted during the festival’s Highland games starting at 10 a.m. both days at Francis Field, with athletes demonstrating and testing their strength and endurance, and Celtic clans displaying their ancestral pride.
For more visitor information and registration to compete, go to celticstaugustine.com/highland-games.
A special highlight of the festival weekend includes the only St. Patrick Parade in Northeast Florida, beginning at 10 a.m. March 11 at Francis Field. In 1601, St. Augustine’s first Irish vicar, Padre Thomas Hassett, led the first historically documented St. Patrick procession recorded in the world.
This year’s parade will feature professional bagpipe-and-drum bands along with local talent and hundreds of parade participants. The parade review stand is sponsored by Ann O’Malley’s Irish Pub.
For more information about the parade or to participate, go to celticstaugustine.com/parade.
The Augustine Celtic Music & Heritage Festival and the Parade are produced by Romanza-St. Augustine, Inc. Proceeds of the Celtic Festival help promote the arts, culture and heritage in St. Augustine.
For more information about Romanza Festivale of Music and The Arts, go to romanzafestivale.com.
Romanza events are funded in part by the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council, St. Johns Cultural Council, Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
For more information about all activities supported by Romanza, go to romanzastaugustine.org or email RomanzaStAugustine@gmail.com.
For more information about the Celtic Music & Heritage Festival and St. Patrick Parade, go to celticstaugustine.com.
