Always the last Saturday in April!
Welcome to our Website!
We’re glad you found us. There are many ways to feel welcome with us, for starters:
Benvidas (Galician (Galicia/Asturias, Spain) for “Welcome” [to men and women])
Ceud Mile Failte (Scots Gaelic for “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes”)
Céad Mile Fáilte (Irish Gaelic for “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes”)
Croeso (Welsh (Wales) for “Welcome”)
Digemer Mad (Breton (Brittany, France) for “Welcome”)
Dynnargh Dhis (Cornish (Cornwall) for “Welcome”)
Failt Erriu – (Manx (Isle of Man) for “Welcome”)
JOIN OUR TRIBE
To keep the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival ALIVE!
We need you!
If you are someone who loves the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival (SMCF) and wants to see it continue celebrating the Celtic Culture, then we need you—now, more than ever before, to Join our Tribe!
The Celtic Society of Southern Maryland, Inc. (CSSM), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, manages, produces, and hosts all of our events, including our beloved Festival through the exceptional teamwork of its members and volunteers.
April 2019 marked Celtic Society’s 41st Festival. Despite that all the associated costs necessary to operate our events have continuously risen over the years, we have managed to keep our event tickets and fees affordable to participants and attendees. This is due to the support we’ve received from community sponsorships and donations, but also because we are a 100% volunteer organization.
Sadly, over the past 10 years, we have seen a gradual decline in the number of Festivals, such as ours, across the United States. Many others continue to manage the constant struggle to prevent this sort of extinction, year after year. This is due to the number of people and months of dedicated planning necessary to host such an event. Our Society and Festival Steering Committee members are burning out, aging out, and generally just dwindling in number to the extent that we will not be able to continue bringing our quality Celtic events to the Southern Maryland community. This is where your membership and volunteerism can make a difference and prevent the extinction of the SMCF. It takes a lot more than just donning the tartan for the day! Please click here to review the positions in need of immediate backfill.
The Celtic Society of Southern Maryland, Inc. provides grants, scholarships, donations, and support—singly or in cooperation with other organizations—events of a Celtic cultural or historical nature. There is no other organization in the Southern Maryland region that does this. We look for folks to join us and continue our mission.
We embrace what are considered the “modern” Celtic Nations (Brittany, Cornwall, Galicia/Asturias, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales) and all the more ancient homes of the Celts who underpin their history (Spain, France, England, etc.). Celebrate the heritage that gives the French their Gallic attitude, the Northern Italians their blonde hair, and just about the best music and entertainment anywhere.
CSSM holds no ethnic requirements. If you like the music, join us. If you like the food, join us. If you like the history, join us. Join our tribe!
The Celtic Society of Southern Maryland, Inc., and all CSSM functions are strictly non-political.
The Celtic Society contributes a portion of our Festival proceeds to Farming4Hunger, which is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 to grow, aggregate and distribute fresh, local food to those in need.
Our 2019 Festival was a great success. We’d like to thank all off our attendees, performers, competitors, and vendors. Most of all we’d like to thank all the Festival volunteers and those who work throughout the year to make this Festival possible. They’re doing more with less volunteers. If you enjoy the Festival as much as they do, please volunteer some of your time to keep this Festival going. Thank you!
The Celtic Society of Southern Maryland does much more than out annual Festival. We carry out a number of events throughout the year. We do our own events, such as the Celtic Circles, join with others for concerts, dinners, and so forth. If you’re a member, or not, please take the time to volunteer and help celebrate the Celtic Heritage. It’s not too late to join the tribe!
In The News
Celtic Festival Vendors List
As you know, we sadly had to cancel our 2020 Southern Maryland Celtic Festival. This was the first time we’ve had to do such a thing. We fully expect to be back next year, on April 24 (always the last Saturday in April).
We want to help our vendors, and ensure that you have a chance to connect with them. So, we’ve compiled a list of all of our vendors who have given permission to let you know of their websites or other ways to contact them. We hope you will continue to support them so that they will be able to participate next year. They will be most appreciative of your patronage in this trying time.
For the full list of vendors, click here.