This Year's Celtic Festival Kids Camp Is Already Sold Out

by Bob Montgomery

This year's Celtic Festival's Kids Camp is already sold out.

Festival Artistic Director and General Manager Cheryl Prashker says the Kids Camp and the College run from August 5th until August the 9th and the Celtic Roots Festival runs from August 9th until August 11th. The Kids Camp is sold out but there are still spots in the Celtic College's Music classes, Arts and Crafts classes, and Dancing and Singing classes. The classes are conducted by the musicians who will be performing on the weekend at the Celtic Festival. Prashker explains they put the courses together based on the musicians that are coming to the Festival each year so the performers in the Festival come to Goderich a week early to teach in the College. The classes are for students thirteen years old and older.

The musicians are billeted with local families and Prashker says it's truly a unique experience for them. “It's a chance for them to spend some time in one place for a week in between festivals, but they also get to know the other musicians, some of them they might not have met before, so they get a chance to collaborate with the other musicians and they put on free short concerts every night during the week on the Courthouse Square.

Prashker says the Festival couldn't run without the billets because there aren't enough hotel rooms in the area for all of the performers. And the performers often develop lasting friendships with their billet family. Some residents have been welcoming performers to their homes for thirty years now. Many of the performers ask to stay with the same family they stayed with the previous year and some of the hosts have approached her to ask if a certain performer is coming back this year because they want to host them again.

More information about the Kids Camp, the College, and the Festival, as well as how to get tickets for the Festival can be found at the Celtic Festival website.

Photos courtesy of Goderich Celtic Roots Festival