47th Annual Celtic Festival Draws Big Crowd To Calvert County

ST. LEONARD, Md. — Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in Calvert County hosted the 47th annual Southern Maryland Celtic Festival on April 25, drawing a strong crowd despite cloudy skies and light rain. This year, the festival sold more than 2,000 presale tickets, with even more attendees purchasing their tickets at the gate on Saturday.

“It’s always a good time even if it rains. It’s good Scottish weather,” said Victoria Major, the festival chair and president of the Celtic Society of Southern Maryland (CSSM). This is her third year running the Celtic Festival.

Major told The BayNet that her grandparents were two of the four founders of the Celtic Society. Today that family legacy is still strong. Major works alongside her brothers and sister to organize and host the festival. Many of the Celtic Society’s members are close family friends, she said.

“They’re all like parents to me, grandparents to me, you know, so it’s generational,” Major said. “I’m the third generation. It’s not just me, it’s everybody in our family. My mom helps with volunteers, my dad does all the grounds and treasury.”

The Celtic Festival is home to Highland athletics events like Braemar Stones, Scottish hammer throw, caber toss and sheaf toss. These events were overseen by Mid-Atlantic Scottish Athletics (MASA) and this festival marks the opening of the Highland athletic season for states like Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia.

Saturday’s festival also saw the Scottish Highland Dance Eastern Regional Championships, the last step before the National Championship in Dallas, Texas, in July. Major has a Highland dance school of her own in Massachusetts now, but says she started competing as a young child at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival on the stage at the park pavilion.

“My long-time teacher and mentor Cathie Peitzsch-Gibbs runs that platform over there now,” she said. “The dancing has always been my love and my passion.”

A close second for Major is the massed bands of bagpipers and drummers. This year’s festival saw 10 bands from across the East Coast competing and performing together. There were also six Celtic music bands rotating throughout the day across three stages.

Nineteen clans were on-site to share historical and genealogical information, and there were dozens of food and merchandise vendors doing business with attendees. The whiskey tasting tent, a relatively recent addition to the festival, was completely sold out again this year.

For folks who couldn’t make it to this festival or were still eager for Celtic cultural events, Major recommended the Fair Hill Scottish Games on May 16.

“Fair Hill is close to here, closer to Southern Maryland,” she said. “We try to get up there and help support them in attendance numbers. It’s a lovely location and people are nice.”

When asked if she had anything to say to attendees, Major said she wanted to thank the people of Southern Maryland for coming out to support the 47th annual Celtic Festival.

“We look forward to seeing you next April! Our 50th year is coming soon, and it’s going to be a big celebration.”

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