By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS — One of the city’s most popular events is back with a toe-tapping vengeance when the Yachats Celtic Music Festival returns Nov. 11-13.
Silenced by the pandemic the last two years, the festival features world-class Celtic bands such as Altan and Talisk in ticketed concert performances, plus several free events like the “Piper on the Point,” free concerts around town and a “whistle workshop.”
This year marks the 20th presentation of the festival, which is sponsored by Polly Plumb Productions, a local non-profit that stages cultural events in Yachats.
Tickets are now on sale through the festival website, which also features the full schedule and descriptions of performers, and at Brown Paper Tickets.
Ticket prices range from $30 for Sunday’s concert finale to a new, very limited $300 “2 for Everything” ticket, which admits two people into every concert all three days.
Due to a technical glitch, it appeared that all events were sold out during the last weekend in June just days after tickets went on sale, but the issue was quickly resolved. Still, a sell-out that fast wouldn’t have shocked festival music director Stephen Farish of Waldport.
“There’s such pent-up demand; people are hungry for this,” he said. Throughout the year, he’s received emails from people asking when tickets would go on sale.
“People are very excited,” Farish said. “Our Celtic festival is a bit like the mythical town of Brigadoon. For just one weekend each year, everybody turns Irish — or Scottish or Welsh.”
One big change from festivals past is there will be no concerts at the Little Log Church, which is closed as the city debates renovations. “All of those will move to the Yachats Community Presbyterian Church, which has graciously donated space for a bigger venue that can seat more people,” he said.
Most festival offerings, including concerts, free workshops with noted pipe/whistle-maker Rob Gandara, free instruction in Irish dancing plus vendors, food and beverages will be indoors at the Commons and at the church.
“We also expect there will be impromptu ‘jams’ around town,” said Farish.
“ …makes you want to stomp your feet”
Farish called Celtic music “high energy” that “makes you want to stomp your feet, or jump around, and maybe even cry a little.”
“We’re really excited about the performers appearing this year — including some new, rising stars along with established artists,” he said. Among the featured bands is Altan, from Ireland’s County Donegal, “probably among the most well-known Celtic bands on the planet,” Farish said. The five-piece band focuses on traditional Irish music, from tender old tunes to hard-hitting reels and jigs.
Organizers are also thrilled to book Talisk, which Farish calls “a contemporary, Celtic super band.”
Talisk is a trio of instrumentalists (guitar, concertina and fiddle) that’s been lauded as Folk Band of the Year, and had a No. 1 album in 2018. Talisk will play the festival finale concert at the Commons on Sunday, Nov. 13.
Studded with more award-winning singers and musicians, the festival line-up also includes:
- Rachel Clemente and Dan Houghton, a Vermont-based bagpipe and harp duo;
- Kalos, a fiddle/guitar/accordion trio;
- Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter, a multi-instrumentalist duo from San Francisco;
- Poor Man’s Gambit, an Irish-American trio from Philadelphia; master bagpiper Kevin Carr, who will be the “Piper on the Point” Friday and Saturday at sunset at Yachats State Park, and
- Ireland’s Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, a fiddler/singer with Altan who will also be performing solo.
Vendors will be on hand at the Commons throughout the festival selling clothing, jewelry, trinkets and trifles. The Drift Inn restaurant will present a “pub-like” area in the main stage hall where attendees can buy food, beer and wine, and also sample some Celtic whiskeys.
“In past years whiskey-tasting was a ticketed event, like a seminar,” Farish said. This year a table will be set up with “various brands of high-grade Scotch and Irish whiskeys, and people can buy shots from a knowledgeable server.”