Take a walk down “Celtic Ways” featuring:

• Workshops on Celtic art
• Artisans demonstrating their craft 
• Discover your Scottish roots with the St. Andrew Society
• Gaelic Mass
• Ethnic and traditional food vendors

The Celtic Connection
From the Emerald Isle to the Gem City. A bit of History - Irish and Scotch contributions to the growth and history of the Dayton Area

Irish Wake Tent
Set in the 1890's as if it were the wake of the grandfather of the home, the tent has displays and information available on wake traditions. I made our "corpse" (affectionately known as "Grandpa Lumpy") and the exhibit has grown every year since. My husband, Steve, and I play the part of chief mourners and tradition-explainers. My kids sometimes demonstrate wake games (Yes, games and even sporting events were common at wakes!) We keep adding new information and changing the exhibits, so it's never the same experience twice.

Irish Linen & Wool Worker Demonstrations
Linen has traditionally been the mainstay for clothing for the upper levels of society as well as for the working class. And Irish linen has a longstanding reputation of quality. This anonymous linen worker will spellbind the patrons of your historic (or not-so-historic) event as he turns ordinary-looking flax straw into very serviceable linen products.

The audience will learn what to do with a hackle, a scutching knife, a rippling comb, a reel, and the warp and weft. He will also delight the lover of words with his explanations of such expressions as to heckle, raising a dog's hackles, a tow rope, a tow-headed child, the flaxen-haired maiden, a spinster, and a web .

The personable linen worker will relate to children and adults, male and female, as he spins and weaves a tale of everyday life in an era long past. Life might have been simpler, but it certainly wasn't easier. Nor cleaner! This program creates a bit of a mess (easily swept up afterwards) due to bits of dried straw being scattered about in the process of changing straw into gold!

Clan Desdin   
A group portraying a historical re-enactment of Highland Scots newly arrived in the Colonies. They will camp next to the river in a period-correct 18^th Scottish camp.  They will demonstrate authentic 18^th century cooking skills, break out into sword fights, interact with the public, perform improvs and small skits depicting typical Scottish behavior and historical scenes, crafting exhibits, and conduct conversations with the public answeringquestions and explaining the connection between the Scots and the early Appalachians who inhabited this area.