The 20th Mid-Winter Celtic Festival is all done for another year, and was a great weeknd! It started Friday after work at O'Hanlon's Pub, where Celtic band The Walls of Limerick played an hour of varied tunes for the after-work crowd. Niall O'Hanlon was a gracious host as always, and the pints of Alexander Keith's ale were flowing freely.

Saturday morning at 11am the SaskTel Performance Stage in the Cornwall Centre kicked off with a performance of the Conservatory of Performing Arts Pipe Band, followed by The Regina Highland Dance Association, the Prairie Gael Irish Dancers, Clark's Clan of Scottish Dance, Tayside and Ceol Mor Scottish country dancers, Celtic harpist Glenna Stewart, fiddlers Samantha Leech & Jayden Dreher, fiddler Daussen Elles, and Alex Rasmussen and Trent Leggott on reelpipes & guitar. It was all woven together by MC Vincent Murphy. The show had a great crowd of people throughout the day, and proved a popular stop in the mall.

Running at about the same time, the stage at O'Hanlon's Pub down the street was filled throughout the afternoon with local performers. Singer/songwriter/storyteller and guitar hero Norm Walker played a number of tunes, and he was joined by a new Regina resident from Halifax on the bodhran. The fiddle tunes followed, featuring Regina's "Cactus Jack" Dublanica, guitarist Ray Bell from Music in the House, and a number of the excellent fiddlers who make up the band "Downbeat." Also playing was David Popoff of the local Celtic band Rogairi, and the Praire Gael and Irish Club of Regina dancers were there to kick up the dust. Joining in after their stint at the Cornwall Centre were Alex Rasmussen [reelpipes], Trent Leggott [guitar] and Glenna Stewart [harp]. All the while, the pints and food were cascading over the bar, and the sound and atmosphere around O'Hanlon's new stage was great.

The Mid-Winter Ceilidh was the highlight of the weekend, and featured a performance of new and old music from hosts The City of Regina Pipe Band, followed by sets from Downbeat, The Scott Benson Band, and Celtica. We also had championship calibre Irish dancing from Laura Buckley, and Laura also conducted  people in a "how to" session for Irish Ceili dancing. One of the highlights of the night was "The ALexander Keith's/Grouse Highlander Contest."  Four volunteers had to drink a pint of Keith's ale, do 30 seconds of Highland dancing, drink a shot of Grouse and then read several stanzas of Robert Burns' "Address to a Haggis," drink another shot of Grouse, and then get some sound from a set of bagpipes! It was a lot of fun, and the contests were all brilliant. The winner, Mike Schmeling, walked away with a new bottle of "Black Grouse" and a prize pack with Alexander Keith's t-shirts and hats, plus some other goodies.

The Ceilidh was SOLD OUT and we very sadly had to turn away a number of people at the door. It was a GREAT night, and the band sends thanks to all who volunteered, sponsored, performed, and just came for the fun!

The City of Regina Pipe Band was one of the very first pipe bands or piping organizations to have a web site, back in 1993-94. At that time. we had a very basic page or two on the "Great Plains Free Net," which was a community-run, volunteer-based service that worked very hard to give people the tools and skills to make use of the internet. The only other piping web site that I was aware of at that time was the SFU Pipe Band web site, which [as far as we know] the first pipe band web site. That effort was organized and maintained by the computer department at SFU.

As the band comes up to its 20th anniversary, there is a lot to look back on, and we hope that band members, former members, friends and fellow enthusiasts will enjoy the new site. One of the features that we are attempting to have is a comprehensive gallery of band photos through the years, and eventually, information on each photo, and the people in them. There will be lots to come back and see, so please visit often!

There will be lots to watch for on the new web site. The Mid-Winter Celtic Festival will be here before we know it, along with some new items in the band store, a new season of contests and performances, and we think our 4th band trip to Scotland this summer.