By: Jeff Meade

Nathan Taylor dances with Kaitlin Zapala.

(Editor's note. This story was originally published in February 2007. For details on the 2008 festival, click here.)

As Rathkeltair charged through tune after tune at the Midwinter Scottish & Irish Festival and Fair, the Temple, Pa., Nathan Taylor flung his small kilt-clad body around the floor. Seemingly inexhaustible, he danced with all comers. (Including Kaitlin Zapala of Maple Shade, above.)

Every once in a while, he'd scamper over to his grandmother for a bit of kilt adjustment. The tartan kept sliding down his skinny hips.

Then it was back to the floor in front of the stage, where he whirled and spun like a tartan tornado.

The rest of us lacked the unselfconsciousness—not to mention the energy—of the very small Rathkeltair fan. It’s a good bet, though, that we were dancing along in our heads.

It was a great weekend for music and dance. Bill and Karen Reid of East of the Hebrides Entertainments have been throwing this huge, well-organized cold-weather bash for Delaware Valley Celts for 15 years, and they’ve got it down to a science. Rathkeltair was just one of many great bands playing in two locations at the Valley Forge Convention Center throughout the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the great Canadian contemporary Celtic band Searson was playing on the Vendor Room Stage while Greenwich Meantime was performing next door on the Large Hall Stage. And those were just two bands out of almost 20 acts, including Scythian and the venerable Timlin and Kane, gracing both stands from Friday Evening through Sunday afternoon.

Out on the convention hall floor, still more kilt-clad lads and lassies cruised from one both to another, checking out all the usual Irish and Scottish tchochkes, from knotwork jewelry to T-shirts to tea mugs.

And no one went hungry, either. Hot, flaky meat pies, fish and chips soaked in malt vinegar, beer, whiskey … the festival food court offered just about everything a good Celt needed for sustenance and inner warmth on a cold day. (And there were some tasty snacks, too, like buttery Scottish shortbread and Welsh cookies.)

Local Scottish and Irish organizations were well represented, too, including the Campbell School of Highland Dance and the Washington Memorial Pipe Band, which performed throughout the weekend, as well as Tom Slattery and CCC Celt (publishers of the indispensable Mid-Atlantic Celtic Directory), and the Ancient Order of Hibernians “Yellow Jack” Division 4 of Hatfield.

All told, a great way for Celts to get in the mood for the March madness to come.

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