Austin Celtic Festival

**Tobus** · 6th November 10, 07:10 PM

Made the 2-1/2 hour drive to Austin today with the wife and one of her friends (who took these pictures) to go to the Austin Celtic Festival. They had lots of music on different stages, from pipe bands to various Celtic musicians, both traditional and modern. Austin being the self-proclaimed live music capitol of the world (or at least Texas, anyway), the music was great. Plus, they had a sheepdog herding exhibit, Viking reenactments, Highland dancing, Highland games, and all the usual stuff.

If you were there, give a shout out! I didn't see anybody I recognized, although one older gentleman asked to take my picture, and he seemed vaguely familiar. Perhaps he's a member here?

My wife eating her lunch on the hillside by the lake whilst I enjoy a post-meal smoke:

Here are my wife and I engaged in a conversation with one of the kilt vendors, who sadly had nothing I really wanted:

I was wearing my Colquhoun 8-yard 'tank', my very chunky hand-knit hose, red traditional garter ties, and belt and sporran made by my wife (just finished the sporran the evening before).

There were very few people wearing traditional kilts, which I found disappointing. Utilikilts and other modern-style kilts seemed to rule the day, although I'd guess that only 1 in 50 men present were kilted. There were a lot of women wearing kilts too (mostly modern kilts), which struck me as, shall we say, visually unfortunate. But hey - it's Austin. Normal rules don't apply there, LOL. It is a world of its own, but God bless 'em, they always have a good time.

One example of the typical kilted male (and random kilted female) at the festival:

Amongst the pseudo-traditional kilts, there were varying degrees of correctness/authenticity. I saw one older gentleman who looked absolutely fantastic, wearing a saffron kilt and well-coordinated hose, waistcoat, tie, jacket, and caubeen (?). Sadly, my wife's friend did not take his photo. But he was downright smashing, and by far the best dressed man there. Some other random kilted chaps:

Clan MacTablecloth made several appearances too:

This one was by far my favorite:

All in all, it was a fun day. The weather was great, the music was enjoyable, the ale was a-plenty, and I was in the company of two amiable females. My wife whispered in my ear at one point that a woman behind me had just taken a picture of my ****, which I found quite amusing!

I came home with several cans of Caledonian Kitchen canned haggis. Oh, and I tried my first fried Snickers bar at the festival.

If you were there, post pics if ya got 'em!

**Irish Jack O'Brian** · 6th November 10, 07:52 PM

If you were there, give a shout out! I didn't see anybody I recognized, although one older gentleman asked to take my picture, and he seemed vaguely familiar. Perhaps he's a member here?

HAH! Thanks for saying saying older gentleman and not "old coot!"

Your observations are dead on, though as an Austin kind of guy, I always like the vibe. The music was good, the food and beer were overpriced, but still I found some things to enjoy. I will post more pictures later.

Sans Peur
Jack

**Irish Jack O'Brian** · 6th November 10, 10:06 PM

I saw one older gentleman who looked absolutely fantastic, wearing a saffron kilt and well-coordinated hose, waistcoat, tie, jacket, and caubeen (?). Sadly, my wife's friend did not take his photo. But he was downright smashing, and by far the best dressed man there.

The Silver Thistle Pipe and Drum Band

Music - The Tea Merchants

Vikings?

Highland Games - this McLeod guy was amazing!

Celtic Dogs - Westies, Deerhounds, and a 115 lb. Old English Bulldog named 'Murphy'

**Irish Jack O'Brian** · 6th November 10, 10:14 PM

Clergy tartan - overlooking Ladybird Lake.

**Irish Jack O'Brian** · 6th November 10, 10:29 PM

Steampunk Sporran (with working clock mechanism)

Dallas Haggis Company

This fellow, "Dow" I think is his name, is a silversmith from Cedar Park, Texas, who sells his craft at festivals all over the country. But he also is a collector of Victorian Scottish artifacts.

He has an amazing collection of kilt pins and brooches made between 1840 and 1890.

This kilt pin was made in 1890, before electricity or diamond cutters, in an era of water power and foot power. The beautiful engraving is by hand and the stone are hand shaped and polished.

**Irish Jack O'Brian** · 6th November 10, 10:33 PM

And the t-shirt slogans...

**Maclachlan** · 7th November 10, 04:22 AM

Great pics by all! Looked like a great time!

**Tobus** · 7th November 10, 08:29 AM

HAH! Thanks for saying saying older gentleman and not "old coot!"

I wondered if that was you!

I'm glad you got a picture of the gent in the saffron kilt.

Celtic Dogs - Westies, Deerhounds, and a 115 lb. Old English Bulldog named 'Murphy'

My wife is madly in love with Murphy. She is crazy about bulldogs, and he was surely a handsome example. The Irish wolfhounds were a crowd-pleaser too. At one point, I couldn't get through the bridge because the crowd was so thick around the wolfhounds.

This fellow, "Dow" I think is his name, is a silversmith from Cedar Park, Texas, who sells his craft at festivals all over the country. But he also is a collector of Victorian Scottish artifacts.

I'm glad he was there. I first met him last year at the Salado Highland Games, and spent about an hour drooling over an old stag horn kilt pin he had. I also saw the pins he had this time, and spent a while admiring them. I didn't even bother asking the price on any of them, though, as I knew I couldn't afford any of them! They are absolutely gorgeous.