“Come for the Music ~ Stay for the Magic!”

Save the date for Wee Celtic, Saturday, September 10th 12pm-9pm, Pioneer Park, Nevada City.
Tickets $25 advance sales/$30 day-of-show.
Kids 12 and under free.

All tickets are General Admission

There is no assigned seating, please bring your own blanket or chairs.

Community Radio KVMR’s Annual Celtic Festival is our longest running and best known community event. It’s also our largest annual fundraiser for KVMR Community Radio. Held each Fall, this signature festival has continued to grow over its 25-year history and attracts thousands of music lovers, Renaissance Faire devotees, vendors, fans of Celtic lore, and supporters of Community Radio beautiful Nevada County in the Sierra Foothills.

Since the arrival of the Coronavirus Pandemic early in 2020 and out of an abundance of caution and care for our staff and supporters, KVMR has twice had to postpone our Celtic Festival. When conditions have seemingly improved, we’ve planned a smaller-scale Celtic production

To all of our staff and volunteers, technical contractors, business supporters, longtime festival goers, regular performers, guild members, marketplace vendors, and KVMR members, we’d like to thank you for your understanding, patience, and cooperation. KVMR remains fully committed to our Celtic Festival and to reprising our landmark event with a Wee Celtic in 2022, and a full festival in 2023.

Northern California Session Players-Celtic musicians from throughout the region welcome you to enjoy the music as they play in a traditional “session” – the kind you would see in pubs across the Celtic nations. You are welcome to listen – or if you are an experienced session player, bring an instrument and join us!

Family Activities abound at our Wee Celtic in Pioneer Park.
Workshops will be open to all ages:

1 pm Build a Tune with Hayley, Athena and Liam
Arts and Crafts

2pm Dance with Nicole McKeever
Singing with Heather Grove and Harmony Happens
Arts and Crafts

3pm Izzy Tooinsky– Juggling with a Celtic flair
Arts and Crafts

4pm Youth Arts Showcase Concert on the Main Stage
Always available– Bubble Table, Celtic Coloring Pages, and Fun
Parents are encouraged to enjoy these activities along with their children.

Build A Tune with Hayley, Athena and Liam
Bring Your Instruments and join in this fun and interactive workshop where you will learn a tune. Hayley Watson and Athena Giuliani are fiddlers who participated in our Youth Arts Showcase for many years. Their love for the music shines through in their exuberant performances. Liam McNeil joins them to teach the guitar parts of the tune today.
Here’s a photo of Hayley and Athena on the main stage performing with The Elders.
Photo by Charlotte Peterson/Marion Charlotte Photography

Arts and Crafts
Christine Nys has once again designed fun and intriguing art projects with Celtic themes for all to enjoy. Sarah, Mary and Sara will lead these creative workshops.

Dance with Nicole McKeever
“The McKeever School of Irish Dance of Sacramento offers Irish dance lessons to beginner through champion levels, and to both children and adults . Owner and instructor Nicole McKeever toured the world for seven years with professional dance companies such as Riverdance- the show for 7 years. She has a Master’s Degree in Irish Dance Performance and is a certified TCRG and ADCRG or Irish dance teacher and adjudicator”
Nicole will teach a fun Ceili dance on the grass for this workshop.

Singing with Heather Grove and Harmony Happens
Singing workshop with Heather Grove and Harmony Happens. Join Heather in a rousing workshop singing traditional and comtemporary Celtic songs with HARMONY. Lyrics provided.
Heather Grove is a gifted multi-instrumentalist and teacher, specializing in keyboard, guitar, vocals, and penny whistle. Heather has a full and vibrant studio of piano and guitar students. Heather is a member of the Northern California band Harmony Happens and is currently involved in several songwriting projects.

Izzy Tooinsky
Izzi Tooinsky, The King of Hotdogastan, is a unique vaudevillian entertainer who has been performing at fairs, festivals, schools, and museums since the dawn of time. The King of Hotdogastan is a juggler, clown, comedian, storyteller, and educator. He is the author of two books, creator of 7 storytelling CD’s, father of two wild women and has performed in 17 countries around the world.
National Public Radio called him a “Wonderful, wandering, wizard of wisdom.”

A Wee Celtic Celebration Schedule (Times are approximate):

1:00-2:30 Northern California Session Players

2:45-3:45 Neil Pearlman and Colin Cotter

4:00-4:30 Youth Arts Showcase

4:35-4:55 McKeever School of Irish Dance

5:00-6:30 Eamonn Flynn and Félim Egan

7:00-8:30 Alasdair Fraser and Friends

Thank you to our sponsors B&C Ace Hardware, Briar Patch Co-Op, Tri-Counties Bank, and Bullmastiff Brewing.

About The Festival:

First founded in 1996, the KVMR Celtic Festival includes eleven performance areas including five musical and six demonstration stages and a weekend-long youth arts instruction that has included Celtic music, magic, dance and songwriting.

The Festival is the main fundraising event of the year for KVMR Community Radio which operates as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) entity. Held in the early fall, the festival regularly draws over 7,000 attendees for the two days and the promotional outreach extends throughout KVMR’s listening area including a worldwide live streaming broadcast over the internet through iTunes and the KVMR website.

We continue to bring international performers to Nevada County and showcase an ever-increasing cadre of regional talent including musicians, dancers, and performing artists of every type.

Each year, the festival provides a professional performance venue for many young student musicians and dancers to perform in front of a live audience and hone their craft. Workshops and sessions are held throughout the event to provide musicians of every age and caliber an opportunity to learn from each other in a synergistic and fun atmosphere.

Funds for the festival are raised through sponsorships, vendor fees, ticket sales, program advertising, and beverage sales. The festival is produced by a team of over 300 volunteers who generously donate their time and energy year after year, plus KVMR’s small staff.

Your support of the Celtic Festival is a partnership with KVMR Community Radio that keeps independent, non-commercial media alive and well in the world.

We are honored to be able to continue to bring the music and magic of the Celtic genre to our community.

MUSIC, MAGIC & MUCH MORE!
Breath Fire	Camp with Friends	Promenade	Be Together	Jam
Make a Wish	Raise Your Hands	Do Magic	Show Your Ears	Focus
Dress Up	Enact	Prance	Be a Rainbow	Clap
Listen	Charge!	Charge!!	Be a Knight	Be Masked
Wield a Spear	Be Colorful	Say “HI!”	Be a Knight	Swing Your Partner
Step Dance	Join a Session	Sail a Ship	Parade	Hang Out
KVMR Celtic Festival photos by: Charlotte Peterson – Marion Charlotte Photography Mike Shea – Tritone Photography