Pics from A Celebration of Celts (upstate NY)

[JRB]

A celebration Of Celts held last Saturday at the Columbia County Fair Grounds was a cold, windy, damp, drizzly, overcast day. In other words perfect weather for a highland gathering! I attended the event with my wife, Nicole. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any other X-markers present. Despite the chilly temperatures we had a good time and the turnout was pretty decent. ACOT has always been a rather small event. This year was no exception. The weather definitely had an impact on attendance. However, overall I thought there was a good turnout. We took a lot of pictures, so here they are…

I wore my Rose ancient hunting kilt (made by Matt Newsome) with a Fergusson-Britt Inversnaid sporran and an L.L. Bean wool commando sweater. It was just warm enough and shed the rain well.


Nicole was wrapped in Gore-Tex and was not fond of the cold weather.


There was only one pipe and drum band that I saw. I’m not even sure of the name of this band.


Several folks brought dogs. I saw at least three Scottish Deerhounds. They are beautiful, graceful animals.


A candid pleat shot.


The avenue of the clans. This gives you an idea of how overcast it was. The temperature was in the upper 40s (f.) with a constant stiff wind.


One of the highlights of the day for me were the small Gypsy Vanner horses. I had never seen smaller draft horses before. I was told these were genuine, cold-blooded draft horses bred down in size by Irish travelers. They were quite a sight to see.






There was a local celtic band in the pavilion where we ate lunch. Unfortunately, I didn’t get their name.