By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
YACHATS — When the Yachats Celtic Music Festival sings, strums and stomps its way into town this weekend, it isn’t only music-lovers who’ll be thrilled. Hotels, restaurants and shops will also enjoy a late fall lift from crowds of festival-goers.
“We expect to pull in 800 to 1,000 people this year,” said Stephen Farish of Waldport, the long-time musical director of the event. “Apparently, we do inspire a bump in the local tourist trade. It’s a big draw.”
Gretchen Hetzler, general manager for the Drift Inn restaurant, agrees.
“I think all the restaurants and hotels benefit from a bump in business … maybe a significant bump,” she said. “For some of the smaller businesses, the festival can keep them going through the winter.”
Centered around world-class Celtic performers, the 22nd festival anchors the fall-winter tourist season in the Yachats area. This year, advance interest was vigorous. Festival organizers sent out just one notice in late June that tickets were available and by summer’s end the all-day tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday were sold out.
“People are still clamoring for tickets,” Farish said.
Still available were individual concert tickets for several performances at Yachats Community Presbyterian Church. And free events are seeded throughout the festival, from music performances to dance instruction.
For a full look at the schedule, plus descriptions of the artists and events and a link to buy tickets, go to the festival website.
Some 20 artists, performing solo and in bands, will be entertaining crowds at the Commons, and at the church. In addition, “pub style”, Celtic-inspired food and beverages will be offered in the Commons by the Drift Inn, along with whiskey tasting and merchandise vendors.
The popular “Piper on the Point” Kevin Carr returns to Yachats State Park for a sunset bagpipe session from 4:30-5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Featured performers include:
- Kevin Burke, a renowned fiddler from London (his parents emigrated from Ireland). Considered a master of Irish music, the award-winning Burke has performed with the seminal Irish group The Bothy band, as well as global artists like Arlo Guthrie and Dervish.
- Skye Consort and Emma Bjorling, an ensemble that merges the Celtic traditions of Ireland and Scotland, as well as France and the Nordic nations. With voices, fiddles, cello and percussion, the band offers an array of genres, from polkas and reels to love songs and hymns.
- John Doyle and Mick McAuley. Doyle is a famed singer/songwriter/guitar player who has worked with many of Irish music’s most popular performers, including Solas, Liz Carroll, The Teetotalers and Usher’s Island. McAuley is a longtime member of the Irish-American ensemble Solas, and has drawn international acclaim for his songs and music.
Music + business = first festival
Using music boosting commerce for Yachats businesses is not a new development.
“Increasing business was part of the impetus in 2000 when the festival began,” Farish said. “The idea was to bring more people into town in the slow season.”
David Bridson, a former TV cameraman who used to run a gift shop in Yachats, began the festival 24 years ago. His motivation was partly a love of Celtic music, and partly a desire to turn up the volume on winter tourism.
Since then — except for the two pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 — the festival has enlivened the central Oregon coast every November.
While the festival has grown, its primary venue — the Yachats Commons — hasn’t. But improvements are in the works.
The sound and light systems in the big multipurpose room are planned for upgrades before next year’s festival. Also planned are new restroom facilities next to the artists’ “Green Room” — also known as Room 8 which is now serving as temporary quarters for the Yachats library. This year, as in years past, performers will have to line up for the same restroom used by the public.
Farish gives high marks to city manager Bobbi Price for working on the upgrades with him and with Polly Plumb, the sponsoring organization of the festival and other cultural activities in Yachats.
“We were really wondering if the Commons was capable of supporting the festival in the future, but Bobbi has breathed new life into it,” Farish said. “Now, I feel much more optimistic about continuing at the Commons into the future.”
The city manager, who will serve as one of many volunteers during the festival, said the city is seeking a grant to help fund the improvements.
“We’re helping however we can, recognizing what it brings to the community, and the economic impact it has,” Price said. “The Celtic Festival is such a valuable event.
“The Celtic Festival and other events help not only hotels, vacation rentals and restaurants get through the winter season, but it also helps the city,” she said.
Yachats’ transient lodging tax is the city’s biggest source of revenue, bolstered by the local food and beverage tax charged by dining spots.
Hetzler, to cite just one of Yachats’ restaurateurs, can attest to the Celtic Music Festival’s impact. Compared to years past. “We can definitely see an increase in business at what is often a slower time of the year,” she said.
Like many Yachats businesses that will put a Celtic accent on their offerings this weekend, the Drift Inn will feature dishes like fish chowder, smoked salmon, corned beef and cabbage.
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com
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