Cabers, Corgis, Clans, Cricket and more at this weekend’s Michigan Celtic Festival

The skies are turning tartan over the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, 5055 Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, where the Michigan Celtic Festival will take place on Friday and Saturday.

Sixty brawny athletes will compete in the Highland Games that owe their roots to Highland warriors who competed with everyday implements, building strength for battle. Highland Games usually include caber toss, hammer throw, stone put, sheaf toss, and more.

Pint-size Celts will enjoy their own games in the Wee Folks area, starting at noon and ending with a parade led by a piper. Celtic crafts and carnival-style games are in Building E, where youngsters can paint a shield, make a crown or a beaded bracelet, do printmaking, or create a treasure map.

​Outside, Tim Hoerauf and his team from Fellowship Baptist Church in Saline will provide games such as Topple the Dragon, Ring Hook, and Aberdeen Castle; unicorn ring toss, and archery, with small prizes. The cheerleading team from Tecumseh High School will be on hand to help.

Four-legged  athletes will compete in the Celtic 500" Corgi Races, starting at 2 p.m., with heats every 15 minutes until a champion is crowned – and that victor will face off in a Little Legs Challenge against the winner of the 2024 Oktoberfest Wiener Dog Races.

Dancers will compete in Highland Dance; and the Detroit Fight Club, Ann Arbor Sword Club, and Society for Creative Anachronism will show how people of old settled arguments.

On Friday evening, the English game of cricket is on hand; and on Saturday, the Michigan Hurling Club will teach festivalgoers the basics and let people try their hand at hitting the sliotar with the hurley.

On both evenings, people can head to the arena and try tossing a caber, playing cornhole or enjoy a game of kubb, a Viking lawn game involving knocking down opponents’ cubes with batons while defending your own cubes.

The Festival also includes several Celtic bands, five pipe and drum bands, clans, merchant booths, ironworks, leatherworks, glassblowing, woodcarving, a huge selection of food and drink, and much more!

Gates open at 5 p.m., on Friday, July 11, and at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 12.

For complete information, visit https://www.mi-celtic.org.

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