St. Patrick’s Day Family Event

For this St. Patrick’s Day, CelticFest Vancouver is presenting a Family Event on Vancouver’s Art Gallery Square. This is a free event and all are welcome to join us to celebrate the annual Celtic Holiday! The square will be taken over by a Stage with a full day’s line-up, as well as a Kid’s Craft tent, (Tír na nÓg) and a Market Tent (an Margadh) with local businesses and organisations showcasing their fundraisers and upcoming events, as well as Irish & Scottish Language groups there to teach you some words & phrases. We will have a tent hosted by the Irish Families in Vancouver group who will have their own crafts, Irish temporary tattoos, face painting and more! A portion of the square will be transformed into a beer garden sponsored in part by Red Truck Brewery & Main Street Brewery. We will have food vendors on Howe Street to keep you well fed & happy! The B.C. Branch of the Irish Wolfhound Club of Canada will have some of these gorgeous dogs to meet and greet. You’ll also have the chance to learn some GAA with the ISSC on site, there to show you how to hold a hurl and throw a sliotar! To open the day we will have Consul General of Ireland, Mr Frank Flood on stage to welcome us all. Our line-up will start with Music with Marnie, a kid’s favourite here in Vancouver. Described as “One of the best performers of her generation” by the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, Marnie will be sure to captivate your child and have them moving and grooving to songs from her 4 Award Winning Albums. At 2pm after Marnie’s Show we will have a mini-kid’s parade through the square! Come dressed up and add to your outfit at our Kid’s Art & Craft tables in our Tír na nÓg Craft Tent. There will be a prize announced for best dressed at 4pm so make sure to stick around for that! Throughout the day we will have performances by the Watt School of Irish Dance. The Watt School of Irish Dance is home to some of the top-ranking dancers in Western Canada, North America and the World. The school is known for bringing athleticism, strength, creativity and discipline to each and every performance. We can’t wait to see their expertise brought to a centre-stage in Downtown Vancouver. Shoreline will play after the kid’s parade, Shoreline is the passion project of four Irish musicians who met in Vancouver through their love of trad. Melodies old and new are carried by flute and concertina, accompanied by guitar, piano and bodhrán. These guys will get you up and dancing in no time. We will have Cannery Row play next to liven up the evening. Cannery Row features the unique and individual talents of Gary Comeau, Tim Hearsey and Chris Nordquist. These significantly skilled musicians, bring their collective focus together in a humorous and highly entertaining presentation. Covering an impressive sphere of genres, blending and bending blues, latin, zydeco, jazz, cajun, country, rock ‘n roll into a musical experience unlike any other! For our final stage act we are honoured to host Fionn. Fionn are young women with old souls. Their sound is rooted in classic folk, but on “Get Stoned”, their latest release via 604 Records, it boasts a modern alt-pop sheen that’s uniquely theirs. Born into a very musical family, the B.C.-based pair has been performing together since the age of 12, when they would busk on Vancouver’s Granville Island. By 14, they were playing nearly 100 shows per year, and they’ve been soaring on a steep upward tangent ever since. With Irish parent’s the duo have taken on their Celtic influence and turned it into their own. They are really not to be missed! This day will be jam packed full of fun, music and Celtic culture we hope you can join us! If you are interested in volunteering, please email celticfestvolunteers@gmail.com For any other queries please email celticfestcoordinator@gmail.com