EXCITEMENT is building throughout Portarlington and across Australia, with a \u2018save the date\u2019 message bringing hope for lovers of music and all things Celtic.<\/p>\n
The National Celtic Festival has been planned for the last two years, with tickets to this year\u2019s festival selling out in 24 hours, before COVID restrictions forced its cancellation just two weeks before the event.<\/p>\n
Festival director Una McAlinden says the festival can\u2019t survive a third cancellation but they are cautiously making plans for the Queen\u2019s Birthday weekend in June and waiting for clear directions before taking the next step.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle, particularly for the arts,\u201d Una said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been planning festivals and getting close and then not doing them so it\u2019s kept us busy, but treading water and tentative of what\u2019s ahead. It will be third time lucky for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce capacity numbers increase and there\u2019s a pathway we can work with, hopefully by the end of the year, we could have tickets on sale by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working with partners to see if we can extend to next year and the response so far has been really positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Una said they hope to carry over a lot of the planning from this year, while reinventing some of the festival with new acts who have already expressed interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from a dance group from Darwin who want to come over, which is encouraging, and we\u2019ve heard from people from Sydney and Canberra that they have their flights booked to come to festival,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are trusting that they want to come back as a festival community; I\u2019m feeling quite good.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would normally be full steam ahead at this stage and we\u2019re full steam ahead but crossing our fingers; there\u2019s quiet excitement that we could be one of the first festivals that are back again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EXCITEMENT is building throughout Portarlington and across Australia, with a \u2018save the date\u2019 message bringing hope for lovers of music and all things Celtic. The National Celtic Festival has been planned for the last two years, with tickets to this year\u2019s festival selling out in 24 hours, before COVID restrictions forced its cancellation just two […]<\/p>\n