Austin Celtic Festival 2010

Today we went to the Celtic Festival and had so much fun. We got there a little before the doors opened and were able to catch the Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums group while they were practicing. I love listening to pipes and drums. There is something about that music that triggers a very emotional response in me. It is beautiful to listen to and even more beautiful to watch.



During our first walk around the venue, I tasted haggis and some Irish Whiskey cake. Both were really good. We made our way to the bake sale and purchased some scones and soda bread for later. We also bought a couple of t-shirts and hubby bought a really pretty knife to display. We went to see if the Vikings and Romans were ready to do their demo. They just warming up, so no fighting. The people participating in the Highland Games were also just warming up, so nothing to see there.

As we were coming back to the start of the venue, it was time for The Roux Crew to do their herding demonstration. The dogs herded sheep, geese, and Indian Runner ducks. I was so in to watching the presentation that I didn't take too many pictures. Below are a couple of pictures of the dogs working. My favorite dog was Rain. He is an 11 month old border collie that is a bit of a goof ball and still learning the commands. Rain is the black and white collie. See is the other collie and she was about 3 years old and handled the stock like a pro. I was amazed at how quietly they gave the commands to the dogs and the dogs instantly (well everyone but Rain) followed the command. They had several dogs, but these are the only photos I took.

We made our way around the venue a second time to see if we missed anything and this time around I found a wooden figure of my school mascot, so I had to get that. We also snagged some onion strings with garlic sauce to nibble on (yummy). We decided we really liked the Irish Whiskey Cake, so we went back and grabbed one of those for later. We stopped by the Things Celtic table one more time and then decided to leave. Things Celtic is a local store and the owner is the director of the festival. She is so easy to talk to and all of her items are hand picked or special made just for her and shipped over from Ireland or Scotland.

After the festival, hubby took me to Joe's Bakery to grab some pink bread since we were already in that area of town. Pink bread is like a yellow cake, but not as sweet, and has pink icing. You can only find it in hispanic bakeries. Well, at least those are the only places that make it properly. Hubby also picked up some other goodies while he was there. By this time, we were getting pretty tired, so we headed home.

It was a great day and the festival was so much fun. I even almost had hubby convinced to buy a kilt!