The Saline Celtic Festival Starts Friday, Here's What You Need to Know

The 25th Saline Celtic Festival returns to Mill Pond Park for the first time since 2019.

The festival, launched as a celebration of Saline's sister city friendship with Brecon, Wales, happens Friday and Saturday.

Here's what you need to know about day one of the festival:

Hours

The gates open at 5 p.m.  Last call in the beer tent is 11:30 p.m. The shuttle service ends at midnight.

Music

The Phoenix Theory, a well known cover band, plays at 9:45 p.m. For those wanting the kind of music you might expect at a Celtic festival, the Codgers perform at 8 p.m., Ironwood plays at 6:30 p.m. and Irish folk singer Enda Reilly plays at 5 p.m.

Workshops

Among the wonderful things about Friday at the Celtic Festival are the workshops. 

At  6 p.m., Marcel Lim will teach a very old Irish step dance, Jennifer Feneley will give lessons on playing the tin whistle (the whistles cost $6.50), Martha Vander Kolk leads a Contra dancing workshop and Tristan Pruss will teach how to play the Bodhran (Irish frame drum).

Marty Somberg leads a fiddle jam at 6 p.m.

At 7 p.m., there's adult Irish dancing. At 7:30 p.m., Liz Heinzman leads a Ceili dance.

Tickets

Friday's the most inexpensive day to visit the Celtic Festival. Tickets, available at the gate, are $8 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 6-17). By comparison, adult tickets are $18 at the gate Saturday.

Parking

Mill Pond Park (located on West Bennett Street) has no parking during the festival. Parking is available at Saline Middle School (7190 N Maple Road) and Liberty School (7265 N. Ann Arbor St.). There are free shuttles from the schools to the festival.

Food Vendors

Many of the food vendors will be open Friday. Vendors will serve fish and chips, shepherds pie, turkey legs, corned beef sandwiches, pizza, lemonade, corn dogs, chicken on a stick, ice cream, kettle corn and cotton candy. Beer lovers can count on locally-brewed options.

For the full schedule, click here.

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