Wee changes should make this year’s Celtic Classic in Bethlehem a bonny good one
In the past few years, as Bethlehem’s Celtic Classic festival passed its 30th anniversary, it has tested some significant changes including an expansion onto Bethlehem’s Main Street, and adding more stages. Last year, the festival added a demonstration of a women’s competition in its centerpiece Highland Games, which crowns the U.S. Men’s Champion.
Most changes will be more subtle for the 32nd year of the Bethlehem celebration of all things Irish, Scottish and Welsh — which Friday starts a three-day run under the Hill to Hill Bridge, as well as in Sand Island’s Ice House.
But that doesn’t mean the festival isn’t always trying to be better.
The biggest change this year is in the way patrons will pay vendors. For the first time, the fest will replace its system of having to buy tickets to purchase food and drinks with electronic cash registers that accept cash, credit and debit.
There also will be a shift in the approach to entertainment, with more of a focus on festival favorites — meaning fewer performers, but each playing more times.
A new Children’s Celtic Theater will have educational performances geared to kids.
And for just this year, the popular Highland dance competition will take a hiatus, so as not to conflict with a big event in Virginia.
But most of the festival will include the familiar elements of food, drink, games, activities and entertainment that have drawn three-day attendance approaching 300,000 in recent years (about 270,000 last year), according to Jayne Ann Recker, executive director of the Celtic Cultural Alliance, which presents Celtic Classic.
“Things are going very well,” Recker said in an interview last week. “The weather’s looking great,” with a forecast free of rain, with highs in the low 80s and nighttime lows dipping into the 50s.
“So we’re ready for another great year.”
Celtic Classic again begins at 4:15 p.m. Friday with the traditional band Poor Man’s Gambit playing at the Grand Pavilion off Conestoga Street and the annual Haggis Bowl eating competition, followed by Highland Games, at 5:15 p.m. Here’s a rundown on the rest:
Highland games
Last year’s foray into co-ed games — the brute-strength lifting and throwing events that have featured the world’s top male competitors — was popular, Recker says, but always was intended as “a demonstration, just to kind of give a taste of how the women are really getting involved in the Highland Games and how big it’s getting for the female athletes.”
She hopes, in a year or two, to introduce the Women’s U.S. Nationals to Celtic Classic.
But this year’s men’s competition should provide some entertainment. Among three new competitors is Kyle Lillie, who a couple of weeks ago in Scotland set two world records, Recker said.
“He’s really making a name for himself,” she said.
It will be the 15th year Celtic Classic has hosted the U.S. National Highland Athletic Championships, which bring the Top 10-ranked professional Highland Games athletes in the country.
After the popular caber challenge at 5:30 p.m. Friday, the games kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday on Highland Field, with opening ceremonies at noon.
The games, with such contests as the hammer throw, stone throw for height and distance, and sheaf and caber tosses, will continue at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Highland Field again has free seating on small bleachers on both sides.
Food, drink (but no tickets) and crafts
There will be 34 food vendors, about the same as 2018, with the same lineup as last year.
Irish fare such as shepherd’s pie, Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage all are back, as are area favorites such as Take a Taco, Mr. Bill’s Poultry, Grumpy’s Bar-B-Que, Heaven on a Bun, MMG Concessions and Heidi’s Strudel.
The difference is that in prior years at Celtic Classic, food and beverages had to be purchased with tickets sold in $1 increments. This year, the electronic cash registers report it to a central festival station that will, in real time, calculate how much each booth sells and report it to a central festival station.
That’s important, because the festival makes its money by taking a percentage of sales from its vendors.
While being interviewed last week, Recker said she was waiting for the truck to roll in with the cash registers, and that a night of training of volunteers, food vendors and cashiers had gone very well.
“We think the patrons are going to enjoy not having to wait in two lines or go back if they run out and want to buy something else,” Recker said. “They can walk up to any food or beer vendor and use cash, credit or debit.
“We hope that everybody is patient with us. It’s the first year and we know that there’s going to be hurdles and problems to work out. The food vendors are excited about it and we just hope that everybody goes away with a good experience.”
Beer offerings will be the same as last year: Magner’s Guinness, Miller Lite, Harp and more. Smirnoff Ice products and Barefoot Cellars Wine also will be available.
Expected to be popular this year are seltzer products. There will be Four Way Rose by