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Celts & Currachs Festival 2006

The 2008 Celts & Currachs Festival will take place August 23, 2008.

Saturday, August 26, 2006 10 - 6 PM New London Main Street will host a new festival on the waterfront featuring Celtic music, food, dance, and exhibition rowing races of traditional Irish currachs on Saturday. The event is sponsored by the City of New London and will take place on City Pier Plaza and Custom House Pier, both in Waterfront Park, behind Union Station in the downtown Historic Waterfront District. (Rain location: The Atrium at Harris Place, 165 State Street.)

Featured guest artist Danny O'Flaherty will perform from 4 to 6 PM. An entertainer dedicated to preserving and passing on his Celtic heritage, O'Flaherty is the last of a generation reared in the isolation of a pure Gaelic culture. Raised in the far west of Ireland, in tiny villages in Connemara and the Aran Islands, Danny's youth recalled the simple tradition kept alive on the rugged and desolate islands. His first language is Gaelic, and his first love the ancient music played and sung around the peat fires in the evenings.

O'Flaherty, who is also an avid currach rower, will provide instruction in rowing the currach, which is a light wood framed boat covered in tar and canvas. Rowers will be allowed to enter exhibition races to test their skills. The boats to be used during the festival were constructed in New London in the spring.

Step dancing and instruction will take the stage during the afternoon. Food and merchandise will be offered for sale.