Bethlehem Celtic Fest 2011

Haley receiving her medal.

Friday night Haley, Dylan, and I drove to Bethlehem for the Celtic Classic. It was pouring rain all day and we had looked forward to having dinner then going to see some of the Friday night acts but due to the downpours, we decided to eat dinner then go back to our hotel. The kids played some music together and we went to bed early.

Saturday morning the rain was gone though the skies remained cloudy. Haley with Dylan to accompany her, won 1st in the 12 and under fiddle competition at the festival. Her good friend, Alex, took 2nd.

Thanks to Alex's mom, I have this one photo. I packed my camera but left the battery at home in the charger. Duh!

After the competition we walked into town to have lunch with Alex and family. Bethlehem is a really cute, historic town and even in town there were acts performing on the street including an old time brass band in front of the big hotel.

We went back to the festival after lunch to enjoy the different acts performing. We enjoyed a number of performances of bands whose members we knew like Burning Bridget Cleary and Girsa. We walked around to see the wares of the vendors. The festival is huge with a parade, fiddle and dance competitions, Highland games, vendors galore, and 5 venues with performers.

One of the perks of winning the fiddle competition was that the judge, the fiddler for the band Glengarry Bhoys, invited the 1st place winners of the two age groups to perform a set with his band at the 8pm performance. We arrived back to the stage a little early but there was not a seat available in the venue (a huge tent!). Haley, Cameron (the winner in the under 18 age group), and Darcy worked out a set and then we watched the performance from the back of the stage.

The Glengarry Bhoys are very energetic and the crowd loved them. They called the kids on stage and the crowd clapped along to Haley's jig then gave her a standing ovation. Cameron played his tune then the band joined in and Darcy motioned to Haley to join them. She had never heard the tune before Cameron played it but she picked it up and played along. (Then played it all morning on Sunday and came up with a set around it because she really liked it.)

Here are some pics...thanks to the Celtic Classic photographers.

Haley's friend John Whelan and his band were playing after the Glengarry Bhoys. When he arrived he picked Haley up in his big bear hug, spun her around, and danced with her then asked her to stay and play with him. He kept the crowd pumped by climbing about 2 stories up to the top of the speaker stand with his accordion and playing, running out into the crowd and playing on a chair then playing up on the sound platform with the sound guys dancing along. Haley joined him for his finale reel set.

It was a late night but a lot of fun! Hopefully Cameron's dad will send me a DVD of the performance! We hadn't planned on staying so late because we didn't know Haley would be on stage so I hadn't taken my video camera. Ugh!