The Alabama Celtic Association (ACA) will be presenting a full day of entertainment at White’s Mountain in Springville on April 9 beginning at 10 a.m. and going until 4 p.m.

There will be live music and dance all day as well as Celtic Jewelry vendors, food vendors, Irish Soda Bread for sale, Irish Whiskey Cakes for sale, and Kids activities

 Performing this year are Hooley (www.hooleymusic.com), Rick Cunningham, Slip Jig (www.slipjigband.com), Alabama Pipes and Drums, Marc Gunn (www.marcgunn.com), Drake School of Irish Dance, Anam Cara Irish Dancers, Birmingham Irish Set Dancers, Vogt Family Band (featuring Jil Chambless) and Irish Storytelling.

One of the featured entertainers will be the Alabama Pipes and Drum Corps, of which four Springville High School students are members.

Junior Jake Sayer saw the group perform at last year’s White’s Mountain festival and decided it would be something he’d like to experience. “I realized it was a lot of fun after seeing them,” he said.

Since joining the group, Sayer, the bass drummer for the group, said the style has become something he enjoys. Fellow snare drummer, Dylan Franklin explained that playing in the tradition Scottish style, where sticks don’t rise more than a few inches from the drum, is part of broadening their drumming abilities.

Franklin said playing in Scottish garb, which includes wearing a kilt and dressing in traditional accessories, isn’t what one thinks at first. “A good many people think it’s going to feel girly when you put that thing on. But I actually felt manly. We had people coming up to us telling us how cool we looked.”

SHS senior Ross Brown, who plays tenor drum, said he was glad to get back into drumming through the group after giving it up at school in favor of work. “After I left, I forgot how much I missed drums. I’m also interested in doing things people don’t. It’s a life experience, too.”

The bagpipe music they provide beats for is much slower than they are used to: just under 90 beats a minute compared to around 140 beats per minute. There is only one bass drum in the line, much deeper than one heard in a high school line. The snare drum is much louder, too.

Tenor drummer and SHS junior Brad Marsh said, “You’ve got to like bagpipe music to do it.”

Admission to next weekend’s event is $10 per person or $15 per carload. All proceeds benefit the ACA scholarship fund. Picnic baskets are welcome or food is available for sale on site. Bring chairs and blankets and spend the day with us.  VIP passes (including access to artist hospitality tent) are avaialble for $25 per person at celticalabama@gmail.com.  Volunteers are admitted free of charge.  To volunteer contact celticalabama@gmail.com

The Alabama Celtic Association is a non-profit service organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Celtic heritage, arts and education in Alabama.  www.celticalabama.net or join us on Facebook.