Marathon Gearing Up For The Florida Keys Celtic Festival

By Terry Schmida

Mile Marker News will be among the sponsors of the Third Annual Florida Keys Celtic Festival, taking place this weekend in Marathon.
The event, featuring food, music, and Celtic-themed fun, will benefit the Hammock House for Children and Youth, and gets underway with a kick-off party Friday night at the Marathon Grill and Ale House, 5800 Overseas Hwy., #12. The opening Kilts in the Keys bash will showcase a Celtic band, costumed revelers, and culinary delights and beverages befitting the Celtic tradition.
The fun will continue over the next two days, with the festival proper, taking place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and again from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, at Marathon Community Park.
More Celtic rock and traditional tunes, as well as Irish and Scottish dancing, pipes and drums, a children’s glen with games, face painting and fun activities, will be among the family-friendly highlights of the festival, now in its third year.
Moreover, attendees will have the chance to sample Celtic and Keys’ foods and crafts vendors, and take in the Highland Athletics, the original “strongman” sport, which is sanctioned in the Woman’s Highland Athletics Competition, as well as the Men’s Highland Athletic Demonstrations.
The lighthearted Official Florida Haggis Hurling Championship, and a Sheepdog Herding demonstration, will round out the schedule.
An on-field church service will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, led by the Rev. Debra Maconaughey of St. Colomba Episcopal Church, one of the festival’s principal presenters.
“Mile Marker News is proud to be a part of this fun festival, which has come to be such a welcome addition to Marathon’s social calendar during the month of January,” said the newspaper’s Editor and Publisher, Guy DeBoer. “Events such as this one, held for a good cause, show just why Marathon has become known as ‘the Heart of the Keys.’”
The Hammock House After School Care and Just for Fun summer and school break camps provide Marathon children with a no-cost, healthy place to thrive emotionally, intellectually, artistically and spiritually.
For information about sponsorship, call 305-743-6412, or email Sponsorship@floridakeyscelticfestival.com.
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