As Topsham prepares to celebrate its 250th year as a town, you cannot overlook where many of the first residents came from, and it’s not just England. The Scots- Irish or Ulster Scots, those who moved first from Scotland to Northern Ireland, and eventually to America…many eventually found their way to the Mid Coast of Maine. It’s only fitting to honor some of those earliest residents with a festival combining the music and dance of Scotland and Ireland. This big event is planned for Friday, May 16th from 6:30 pm to approx. 10 p.m.

The Celtic Festival will be held in the Orion Center for the Performing Arts, Mt. Ararat Middle School, Topsham. And oh, what a night of rollicking good music is planned, sure to get your toes tapping and your hands clapping, with performances by different Maine schools of Irish and Scottish dance, the Maine Highland Fiddlers, plus the drama of the Maine Public Safety Band, and the pub/folk music of the popular duo known as Squid Jiggers, and you have yourself a night of fun for all ages.

The music transcends generations and binds them together. Topsham 250th Steering Committee Co-Chair Steve Edmondson can trace his own family roots back to the Scots-Irish immigration in 1719 and lives and breathes all things Celtic. “The third generation of that family was born and died in Topsham, and is buried about a half mile from my home how. I am the 10th generation of that guy,” he says. It’s Steve who conceived of this festival last year, seeing the mass appeal it has for even those with roots reaching in other directions. After all, Topsham, like so many other Maine communities, witnessed the rise and fall of ship building, mills for just about every industry, and so much more. It was the strength, spirit and tenacity of those who built, worked and managed all this who kept the town going.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Topsham Parks and Recreation office in the Town Hall, $5 a person or $20 a family, or at the door, for $6 a person, $25 a family.

For more information, check www.topshammaine.com/250

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