I heard about this through the proverbial grapevine. I have no idea what it entails, other than some limited Highland Games. I've no clue as to what the "Celtic Festival" portion will be.

http://www.wherevent.com/detail/Eric...Highland-Games

The date is Saturday, August 15th. Probably safe to say it'll be hot. :D

Does anybody else have any info on this? Is this the first time they've done this, or have I been missing it all these years? Should we try to have a get-together for XMTS folks in the area? Even if the event itself isn't much to write home about, maybe we could pair it with a kilt night on Friday night somewhere in Kerrville.

I'll shoot an email to the contact person on the site and try to find out more.

I heard about this event a while ago. It was new to me so I contacted them for more information. Let's see what develops. We have good friends who live in Ingram and discussed it with them. We are thinking seriously about going and can bring our Ingram hosts. Let's keep in touch. Ingram has a replica of Stone Henge and it will be held at that site.

I was given a couple of typed sheets about it at the recent San Antonio games. It's at home, and I'll try to post the relevant information, but as best I recall, they've been having the Highland games (the athletics, that is) for a couple of years and are now trying to make a full blown event of it. They're inviting pipers, dancers, clans, re-enactors to what will be their first (annual, let's hope!) event.

I'm considering it, as I try to participate as a convener at four events annually. Since the demise of the Houston games, this might fit the bill, provided that I can work out the logistics, as my wife (a band director and therefore subject to be present for "summer band" during the month of August...). I suspect it can be arranged.

I'm in. I've put it on my calendar, and look forward to a fun time. With enough of us there, it will be a fun time regardless.

I would guess many of the same athletic competitors from the San Antonio games will be there, so it will be a good day.

Regards,
Patrick

I can not make this year's event (unless some divine intervention prevails.) But how cool would it be, having the surname Ingram, attend such a fun gathering.

This is the information I was recently handed at the San Antonio games:

To all Clans, Vendors, and Performers:

Slainte’! This letter is to introduce you to the First Annual Kerr County Celtic Festival and Third Annual Highland Games to be held in Ingram, Texas at the Hill Country Arts Foundation on Hwy. 39. This festival will be held August 15 & 16, 2015. It is our hope to have this be and incredible additional to the Celtic Festival Circuit that so enriches our heritage in this part of the nation. It is our goal to bring teaching events as well as fun and entertainment to one and all. Please “Like” the Kerr County Celtic Association on Facebook, and keep up with our progress and announcements, such as a web link to our host hotel, Inn of the Hills, a Hilton affiliate. IOH is offering the festival participants and patrons a very good room rate for a double queen and/or single king room. We are currently checking in with local RV campgrounds for rates for those who wish to primitive camp or bring their RVs. Arrangements will be posted on our Facebook page as well as any additional websites.

Our site will be at the Hill Country Arts Foundation/Pointe Theater along the beautiful Guadalupe River in Ingram. This is also the location of Texas’ own Stonehenge, which will be a central focus of our Festival. This will be a two day event with a full set of Highland Games both days, as well as performances by pipe bands, singers, dancers, story tellers, etc. We also hope to encourage any artisans, historical re-enactors, and other like participants to come help make this inaugural even one to remember. Again, we look forward to seeing you in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, and to be able to wish you all “Cead mil’y Failte”; “A hundred thousand Welcomes”! If you have any further questions, please contact one of the following festival organizers:

Marvin Willis founder@hthcard.com Vendors

Eric White ebrandonwhite@gmail.com Athletes

Kirk Scheel kscheel72@gmail.com Pipers, Dancers

Mary Ellen Cook leegrad1973@gmail.com Clans, all other Performers/Re-enactors

Sincerely,

Mary Ellen Cook
Clan Gunn, Clan Coordinator
Kerr County Celtic Festival Highland Games

I had contacted them a while ago and also received a nice note. At this point, as I mentioned, I am looking seriously at going. The other events in this area don't seem to be growing. Perhaps a fresh start is in order and we can provide support and encouragement.

I, too, am seriously considering going. I emailed Mary Ellen earlier today to inquire about the response from the various clan societies... I'm likely to go if there are several clans participating, but I don't want to be the only clan representative there. I also inquired about the room rates at the Inn of the Hills and will post that information when received.

Hope to see you there, cck! I'm betting that XMTS will be fairly well represented at the event.

Duplicate post.

I'm also considering. All should be settled by then regarding my house sales (2)/purchase (1). A new event can be good fun!

Hello rabble! I'm excited to see that this has made it to to forum. This is my festival! I use the loosely because I am far from being the one to do everything, but I'll claim them.

We have had a "Highland games" demo for a couple of years in Kerrville with a pretty good turn out of athletes. It was held in conjunction with another activity and so received little press. I wanted to change that. So we have been working with Point Theatre, the Scottish Games League (SGL), and some other local groups to move it to the grounds of the Hill Country Arts Foundation and make it a separate festival.

Currently we have a full games scheduled with all of the events. We are filling slots with entertainment for the weekend and finding instructors for the pipes and drums. We have decided to use the weekend as a clinic type of event instead of competition for pipes and drums. We will have the Viking Invasion, stone masons, weavers, and various Clan tents. There will be a Cèilidh on Saturday evening at the Inn of the Hills(pot luck and probably low key), but a very strong probability of a Kilt Night at a local drinkery in Kerrville. More on that to be posted later.

We are in the infancy of this event and looking forward to support from friends and fellow kilt wearers. If you have thoughts, or a skill, or a talent you want to contribute or see please let me know. Vendor and merchant sponsor sites are available as well. Hope to see one and all. Please feel free to message me or email.

Kirk
Kscheel72@gmail.com

There is a Facebook page and a new, and slightly hard to find at the moment, website.
www.kerrcountyceltic.com

We frequently have kilt nights at Grape Juice in Kerrville. I posted a few in the past, but never received any interest, so I stopped. I will start again if there are those out there interested.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fireboykirk

We frequently have kilt nights at Grape Juice in Kerrville. I posted a few in the past, but never received any interest, so I stopped. I will start again if there are those out there interested.

---

Huh, I must have missed those completely. I know you and I had talked at some point in the past about doing a kilt night, but I didn't remember hearing of one at Grape Juice. I drive by it all the time but have never been inside.

Please tell me there will be decent beer at the festival! Helotes has actually gone downhill in this regard, and has stopped selling Belhaven. There were a lot of complaints about that. Are y'all pursuing a beer vendor that can supply brands that people would expect, like Guinness and Belhaven?

The Point Theatre is handling the alcohol sales and I have put a great emphasis on having Guinness and Belhaven. They are a little leery because of the possibilities of left over beer that wouldn't usually get sold after the fest. I'm hoping that I can show them the light. And maybe some numbers to encourage them.

I will start posting Kilt Nights at Grape Juice. Sometimes they are small events and other times they can be quite merry. All are welcome. If there are any musicians out there, we are looking to add some entertainment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fireboykirk

I will start posting Kilt Nights at Grape Juice. Sometimes they are small events and other times they can be quite merry. All are welcome. If there are any musicians out there, we are looking to add some entertainment.

---

Sorry for the delayed response, as I have gone back and forth on whether to post this. But what the heck...

I do play the mandolin and guitar, though my primary focus is on bluegrass and old-time styles of music. Very fiddle-tune oriented, which sometimes crosses over with Celtic or "Irish traditional" music. So while I could (and do) play some Irish and Scottish traditional music, I wouldn't say I typically play it in the true authentic tradition that the genre demands. That said, I'd be willing to coordinate or collaborate with other musicians you might have in mind, if you wanted to get some informal music going at a kilt night. While I have done some limited "performance" gigs, I actually find it more enjoyable (and the music more genuine) when it's more of an organic "jam" or "session" type setting. Basically, just get musicians together and let them find what they have in common, letting the music happen all on its own. It's great fun, especially as background entertainment in venues like this.

So if you have some other musicians willing to get together like this, I'd be game. There's a group I usually jam with once a week in Kerrville, though we typically do the aforementioned bluegrass, old-time, gospel type stuff. I might could convince a couple of them to come over and jam at a kilt night (they wouldn't wear kilts, methinks), provided we weren't limited to strictly Celtic-sounding music.

Excellent!!!!! That would be fantastic. I'll pass that along to those I know in the area. I have also recently met Niko, who wrangles the Boerne kilt night every week at the Dodging Duck. They have a few musicians as well.