Earlybird tickets are selling fast for the CelticFest Gathering 2022, CelticFest’s main ticketed event, which will be held on Saturday 26 March at the Warwick Showgrounds – get yours now!
Available until March 23, 2022, earlybird tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for school age children and are available from the CelticFest website at www.celticfestqld.com.au. From 24 March 2022 and at the gate on the day – if not sold out beforehand – tickets will be $20 for adults and $10 for school age children.
Festival-goers can immerse themselves in a full day of events at the CelticFest Gathering, to celebrate all things Celtic, including highland games heavy events, pipe band competition, highland dancing competition, medieval village, Irish dancing, clan gathering, Celtic choir, Celtic-themed markets, and Celtic creatures such as highland cows and Clydesdale horses – and much more!
Visitors to CelticFest can take in events on the Main Arena from the comfort of the Portley Grandstand, including the Highland Games heavy events, the pipe band competition, and displays from the 11th Light Horse Warwick – Montrose Troop. Those wanting more of an immersive experience can take a wagon ride around the Arena on the Teviot Clydesdale Wagon – experience these majestic creatures up close!
Warwick will host the best of Australian professional strongmen and women at the Highland Games heavy events, organized by Highland Muscle. Watch amazing feats of strength as competitors are put through their paces in events such as the stone lift, keg toss, farmer’s walk, weight over the bar, and the crowd favourite, the Caber Toss!
Thrill to the skirl of the bagpipes as pipe bands from around Queensland and northern NSW join local bands Warwick Thistle Pipe Band, Scots PGC College, Warwick City Band and the Stanthorpe RSL Pipe Band in a battle of the bands. There’ll be tunes for every taste, as the bands play a selection of traditional favourites, alongside jigs, reels and more contemporary offerings. Outlander fans may even spot a version or two of the evocative Skye Boat Song.
No gathering would be complete with a Highland Dancing competition. CelticFest delivery partner Inverness Highland Dance Studio will hold its biennial competition at the festival, in the Kevin Thumkin pavilion. Watch dancers young and old weave gracefully around the stage, performing sword dances and hornpipes.
Alternatively, patrons can wander down to the ‘Celtic Central’ stage, to be entertained by music throughout the day from local groups The Highlanders, the East Street Singers, and the Graniteers, who will join the Moreton Celtic Fiddle Group, and Irish bands Limerick and The Gathering. In the evening, The Gathering and Limerick will return to Celtic Central to get everyone on their feet to party the night away.
Or why not visit the Warwick Shire Medieval Village? Go back in time to the Middle Ages where noble knights fought for the honour of their fair ladies. Watch experienced fight demonstrations in safe but fun displays, marvel at the authentic garbs and beautiful dresses, savour the delicious aromas of medieval food, wonder at the skill of the artisans, and take a selfie with a ‘Jacobite’ or a ‘Viking’.
On your way to the Medieval Village, you’ll not want to miss the Highland Cow Display, with cattle from our local Leyburn Highland Cattle Stud. These iconic, gentle creatures embody the Scottish Highlands, and like nothing more than a comb or a good scratch!
And if you’re of Celtic ancestry and want to explore your family tree, the clans and genealogists will gather at CelticFest to help you do just that – you’ll find them near the Medieval Village as well.
Who doesn’t like a good browse through a market? CelticFest has this in hand as well, with artisans gathering on the Village Green to display their wares, and many vendors offering at least one Celtic-themed item or dressing in Celtic-inspired costume. This is your opportunity to pick up a meaningful souvenir of your CelticFest experience or purchase a gift or two for friends or family. Let’s face it, whose life wouldn’t be improved with the addition of a little tartan?
You won’t go hungry or thirsty at CelticFest, and many food and drink vendors will offer at least one Celtic-themed item on their menus. Indulge in a Guinness pie or a Cornish pasty, wash it down with a an Irn Bru, and then have a Tunnocks teacake for dessert. Those more adventurous should definitely try the infamous Haggis, which will be served up in pies, sausage rolls and baps (trust me, it is delicious! Just don’t think about it).
CelticFest is a celebration of the Southern Downs’ rich Scottish and Irish heritage and continues on from the Warwick Caledonian Society’s 150th Anniversary celebrations in March 2021.
“Those who attended the 150th celebrations in March 2021 will have some idea of what to expect,” said Alexander Manfield, the Society’s chieftain. “From medieval re-enactments to marching bands, from highland games to highland dancing, from pipe bands to Celtic rock bands, from highland coos (cows) to haggis, it will be like the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo right here in Warwick.”
The CelticFest committee is delighted to announce that a number of local and regional businesses have stepped up to support the event and is grateful to the following companies for their support: John Dee, Warwick Sandstone, Frasers Livestock, Warwick Credit Union, McDonald’s, Carey Brothers, Wickhams Freight, Proterra Group, Warwick Friendly Society, Spiller Construction, Condamine Sports Club, and Darling Downs Irish Club.
“It is our pleasure to be able to contribute towards an exciting new festival, CelticFest – another reason to put our great town of Warwick on the must-visit map,” said Jill Bockman, from Warwick Sandstone. “Warwick Sandstone wishes the CelticFest planning committee good luck for an exciting and great outcome.”
In addition to the main Saturday event, CelticFest Community events will be held between Friday 25 March and Sunday 27 March. Some of these events will be free, and some will have their own ticketing. The CelticFest Community events will be held across many of the towns and villages in the region including Warwick, Killarney, Allora and Clifton, and will celebrate the area’s Celtic heritage, music, art, dance and natural beauty including workshops, performances and tours.
CelticFest Community events will include gigs from Irish bands Limerick and The Gathering at the Club Warwick RSL, Heritage Train Ride to Clifton, Celtic-themed art exhibition at the Warwick Art Gallery, Celtic Bush Dance at Junabee Hall, Celtic-themed parkrun, pipe band competition at Scots PGC College, Celtic Line Dancing Workshop, and CelticFeast 3-course dinner and entertainment at Bony Mountain. Historic buildings and museums will also open for visitors during CelticFest, including Glengallan Homestead, The Abbey of the Roses, Pringle Cottage, and the Warwick Uniting Church, and the New Tivoli Theatre in Clifton. In addition there’ll be a ghost tour at the Criterion Hotel, and a historic cemetery walk at Warwick’s Old Cemetery. Truly something will be on offer for everyone!
CelticFest is assisted by the Local Event Funding Program (LEFP), which is a temporary funding program facilitated by Southern Downs Regional Council and jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments as a component of the 2019 Queensland Bushfires Community Recovery Package under Category C of the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
For more information about the CelticFest Gathering and CelticFest Community events, please visit the CelticFest website at www.celticfestqld.com.au or its Facebook page.
