The big event of this weekend is clearly the Bellingham Celtic Festival, which will take place Oct. 13–16 at a variety of venues in downtown Bellingham. This is the event formerly known as the Bellingham Irish Festival, but the name has been changed to better reflect the breadth of the festival’s offerings, which include a fair amount of traditional Scottish music and culture, and other offshoots that fall under the Celtic umbrella.
A lot is going on at this festival, so I wanted to give you all a quick primer on how to navigate the offerings.
Each evening, the biggest names will be at the Blue Room. Shows there feature national and international touring artists and require advance tickets, which you should probably snap up ASAP. (One of the shows is already sold out as of deadline, and more may be by the time you read this.)
Honey Moon and the Boundary Bay Beer Garden are also hosting shows all weekend, mostly with local and regional acts, but you don’t need tickets for those. There are even some performances tucked into smaller spaces such as Welcome Road Winery, Mindport Exhibits and Champlin Guitars. For those, you’ll want to make sure to plan ahead and show up early to get a spot.
An Irish session at the 2021 Belllingham Irish Festival — now called the Bellingham Celtic Festival — took place at Honey. The sessions are the heart of the event, featuring impromptu, somewhat unpredictable gatherings of musicians, playing together but not exactly performing for the crowd. (Photo courtesy of Doug Plummer)
The thing that makes this festival so interesting, though, is that the formal concerts are just the beginning. There are also dance parties, a movie at the Pickford Film Center, pub sings and social hours. At various venues, you’ll also find workshops covering language, dance, folklore and specific instrumental techniques. Most of those require advance reservations, so be sure to check bellinghamcelticfestival.com for details.
Finally, there are the “sessions” — the real heart of the event. For those unfamiliar with this usage of the term, these are impromptu, somewhat unpredictable gatherings of musicians, playing together but not exactly performing for the crowd. It’s not improvised like in a jazz or bluegrass jam; instead, the musicians are spontaneously choosing tunes from their shared traditional repertoire.
Sessions will be going on throughout the weekend, mostly at the Honey Moon and the Culture Cafe, and may well end up being some of the best music you will hear all weekend. (Full disclosure: I am performing during the Celtic Festival with The Moving Hats.)
Two other festivals of note are happening this weekend. Up in Lynden, it’s the Lynden Music Festival. Performances from Oct. 12–15 range across a wide spectrum of genres: tango, country, jazz, classical and more. The WECU Expo at the Fairgrounds is the site for the bigger events, but there are things happening all over town.
In Skagit County, Skagit Social is hosting its inaugural Bigfoot Fest Oct. 14–16 at Eagle Haven Winery. In between various Bigfoot-related activities, some of the county’s best local acts are also performing, like Lazy Acres, Pretty Much Nothing, and the Enthusiasts.
Live Music Listings
Wednesday, Oct. 12
Boundary: 6 p.m., Aaron Guest on piano
FireHouse: 6:30 p.m., Ari Hoenig Trio (jazz)
Foundation Lounge: 7:30 p.m., Open Mic
Jansen Art Center: 7 p.m., Martin Alvarado & Matti Laukkanen (tango), Crosscurrent (jazz)
Honey Moon: 8 p.m., Open Mic
Rockfish: 6 p.m., Trish Hatley (jazz vocals)
Stones Throw: 6 p.m., Naughty Blokes Trio (folk/rock)
WWU PAC: 7:30 p.m., Daniel Hsu (classical piano)
Thursday, Oct. 13
Blue Room: 7 p.m., Rakish
Brown Lantern: 8:30 p.m., Open Mic
Honey Moon: 5:30 p.m., Bauman, Vogt & Reed; 7 p.m., Pub Sing with Peter and Mike
Thirsty Badger: 7 p.m., Open Mic
That’s What I Like: 6 p.m., J.P. Falcon and Friends (folk/rock)
WECU Expo at NW Fairgrounds: 6:30 p.m., Steve Herrick and Front Street Jazz; 7:30 p.m., Greg Yasinitsky (jazz)
Friday, Oct. 15
Aslan: 8 p.m., Salt Pine (alternative country)
Beach at Birch Bay: 6 p.m., Wicked Timing (acoustic covers)
Big Stick BBQ: 6 p.m., Michael Dayvid
Birdsview: 6 p.m., Cascade Cody
Boundary: 5 p.m., Giants’ Causeway, 6:30 p.m., Gallowglass; 9 p.m., North Sound Soul
DownTime Taps: 6 p.m., J.P. Falcon Grady & David Tondi
Eagle Haven: 5–10 p.m., The Enthusiasts, SYLKROAD, more (Bigfoot Fest)
FireHouse: 4 p.m., Bill Anschell (jazz)
Fireside: 7 p.m., Fritz and the Freeloaders (classic rock)
Greene’s Corner: 6 p.m., Tenderpile
Honey Moon: 6 p.m., Alex Sturbaum and Friends
Lynden Pioneer Museum: 5 p.m., Keenan Date and Parker Whittington, The Moonlighters (bluegrass/country)
Make.Shift: 8 p.m., Vacuum, Ossuary Wraith, Halon (metal)
Shakedown: 9 p.m., Vanishment, Detönatör, Despairer (metal)
Skylark’s: 8 p.m., Will Byrne (acoustic covers)
Vault: 7 p.m., Song Wranglers (acoustic Americana)
WECU Expo: 7 p.m., Birch Pereria and the Gin Joints (swing/Americana)
Welcome Road Winery: 5:30 p.m., Calaskan
Wild Buffalo: 9 p.m., Free Funk Friday
Saturday, Oct. 15
Beach at Birch Bay: 3 p.m., Little Big Band (classic/Southern rock)
Blue Room: 5:30 p.m., Jocelyn Pettit & Colm MacCartaigh; 8 p.m., John Whelan & Sean Cleland
Boundary: 1:30 p.m., Lindsay Street; 4:30 p.m., Flattery; 5:45 p.m., NW Junior Pipe Band; 6:30 p.m., Rosin & Reed
Brown Lantern: 9 p.m., Lion of Judah Band (reggae)
Eagle Haven: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Penny Stinkers, Fanny Alger, more (Bigfoot Fest)
Fireside: 3:30 p.m., Singers’ Saturday
Greene’s Corner: 6:30 p.m., Simon Evans
Honey Moon: 5:30 p.m., Schmid and Guest
Karate Church: 8 p.m., True Reckoning, Roger Thorn, Bilee Grace (folk)
Make.Shift: 8:30 p.m., Countercurrent, Jammin’ Salmon
Main Street: 9 p.m., The Takers (hard rock covers)
Rockfish: 7:30 p.m., Free Harmony (classic folk/rock)
Skylark’s: 8 p.m., Anissa Quintet (jazz)
Underground Coffeehouse: 7 p.m., Pure Halcyon (rock)
WECU Expo: 6:30 p.m., Trio Sueño (jazz/flamenco)
Welcome Road: 4 p.m., The Moving Hats; 6:30 p.m., Kate Gregory & Baron Collins-Hill
Wild Buffalo: 9 p.m., Minnesota, Lotus Drops, Slayde, BluntHound (electronic)
Sunday, Oct. 16
Blue Room: 3 p.m., Kittel & Co.
Champlin Guitars: 2 p.m., Tom Bourne
Culture Cafe: 7 p.m., Open Mic
Eagle Haven: 11 a.m to 5 p.m., Lazy Acres, Pretty Much Nothing, more (Bigfoot Fest)
Greene’s Corner: 4 p.m., Michael Dayvid
Kulshan: 5 p.m., The Devillies (Irish folk)
Main Street: 6 p.m., Open Mic
Mindport: 11 a.m., Ladies Loe
Old Edison: 5:30 p.m., Bow Diddlers (classic rock)
WWU PAC: 7 p.m., St. Olaf Orchestra
Monday, Oct. 17
FireHouse: 3:30 p.m., Mark Kelly & Mark Ashworth (jazz)
Kulshan: 6 p.m., Michael Dayvid
Tuesday, Oct. 18
Aslan: 8 p.m., Jazz Night
Beach at Birch Bay: 6:30 p.m., Open Mic
Boundary: 6 p.m., Paul Klein on piano
Greene’s Corner: 6 p.m., Open Mic
Before heading out to listen to live music, check with individual venues to make sure the event is still taking place as scheduled.
Jesse Stanton’s music column, The Beat Goes On, runs Wednesdays. Email: jsbhammusic@gmail.com or Twitter: @JSBhamMusic.
