Below is a list of about 100 Irish and Celtic Fests and 150 Scottish Highland Games and Fests with corresponding links, dates, and location. As specific locations and dates may change, please view the specific website for up to date information, as well as information related to the schedule and any related fees. If there are any needed changes or corrections, or if you wish to have an event added, please email me.

Note: Events that occurred in the past and do not have the next event dates listed on the website, are moved to the bottom of each table. Once a month these listings will be updated with any new information and will be moved up to the upcoming section if a new date is listed. This way the most recent upcoming events will be listed first. Links that lead to dead sites will be removed during the monthly check.

Click here for the introduction to this page.

Cornish & Welsh Festivals

Irish & Celtic Festivals & Events

Scottish Festivals, Highland Games, & Tattoos

Introduction

Back in my native Virginia, or at least in the Hampton Roads area, the Celtic scene is a bit minimal, if not nonexistent. There weren't any Irish Fests around, and even through I lived ten to thirty minutes away from the Williamsburg Scottish Festival, I never had the time to make it there. In fact the only real Celtic music scene was a local band called Coyote Run which played monthly at a local UU church, with scattered shows elsewhere in the Hampton Roads area. But even this went away as their popularity grew and they started to tour up and down the East Coast. So I was basically limited to listening to the Celtic music I had downloaded or the steaming radio stations (mainly Live Ireland and the now defunct Celtic Grove radio) over the Internet.

Well that all changed one night in Fall of 2005. The previous summer, I had left the little corner of Virginia where I had been all my life and moved up to the Chicago area. One Monday night, NPR was playing jazz, which I don't normally listen to, so I decided to flip through the stations. And lo and behold, I came across a station that was playing Celtic music. After listening to the first song I was amazed that the Celtic music continued. Although, I didn't remember to get the call sign I found the station again a couple of weeks later. And then I learned that the station was WDCB 90.9 FM, and the show was Blarney on the Air. I also determined that they stream over the Internet and the show is every Monday between 7:00 and 9:00 CST. So ever since then, I've listened to most every show that I can catch. Check out the podcast on the show's site to listen to past shows.

So what does this have to do with Fests? Well besides playing good music, the dialogue between the two hosts is very informative as well as amusing. I learned that there are events dedicated to Celtic music. So I started writing down the names of the fests mentioned on the show and finding websites for them. This list grew as one page would link to another, which would link to another, and so forth. This webpage grew from all the links off these pages, which are linked below for reference purposes.

References

• Arizona Irish Music Society Irish Fest List.
• Association of Scottish Games and Festivals.
• Bogside Rogues Irish Music Festivals
• Celtic Glass Irish Fest List.
• Clan Donnachaidh South Games Page.
• Clan Mackay Highland Games
• Highland Games List
• Irish Festivals By Locations
• Scottish and Celtic Games and Festivals.
• West Coast Highland Games Schedule