When the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival comes to Huerfano County September 27-30 not all the performers will be visiting guests with foreign accents. Locals will be familiar with Walsenburg residents Kim McKee and Ken Willson who make up the professional touring duo of Willson and McKee. Kim, a Colorado native, and husband Ken, […]

By Rodger Hara The internet makes it possible for any band anywhere to be heard around the world at virtually any time. There is an old-fashioned comfort that can be found in the immediacy and intimacy of radio broadcasts that may be preserved and listened to again but can only be heard live once. Boulder […]

Nessie, the friendly giant mascot of the Colorado Scottish Festival, will be dancing up a storm Saturday night, August 4, when Irish balladeer and humorist, Seamus Kennedy, and the Indi/Scottish/Folk rock group Enter the Haggis take the Festival stage in a musical extravaganza. The internationally known musical acts will follow the5 p.m. Hot! Piping and […]

Shane O’Neill not only made the bench for the Colorado Rapids, put he has been given playing time despite the fact that the 18-year-old native of Boulder, Colo., signed his first professional contract in June. In a recent interview head coach Oscar Pareja said, “[Shane] is s a kid who’s growing within the group…He’s growing […]

The 18th Annual Colorado Irish Festival: Frankie Gavin & DeDannan · The Young Dubliners · The Clancy Legacy · Comas · The Elders · The Fighting Jamesons · The Brazen Heads · Colcannon · The Hounds of Finn · Gob’s O’Phun · Skean Dubh · Lougheed · Delilah’s Revenge · Empty Pockets · The Stubby […]

Tiffany Antikainen returned to Denver from Ireland last month feeling a bit surreal. After being picked to serve as Denver’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Queen Colleen months ago, she was asked to represent Denver at the Rose of Tralee Regional Finals. A series of fundraisers later, she was off to Ireland to the Regional Finals […]

The Ward Irish Music Archives returns to the Colorado Irish Festival at Clement Park Littleton July 13 -15 with the exhibit The Irish in Film July. This exhibit examines the Irish and Irish American contribution to the art of film. “It is one of our most popular Exhibits.” Said Barry Stapleton, Archive Curator “The exhibit […]

by Rodger Hara The Colorado Irish Festival Battle of the Bands that began on April 11th, fittingly enough, at the Sheabeen Pub in Aurora where the very first Irish Festival was held, finished with a grand flourish on June 20th at Stoney’s on Capitol Hill where Pandora Celtica was crowned the winner over a field […]

by Rodger Hara Seanchaí is Irish for the bearer of old lore – a story teller. In the times before written language – and those times when written language was forbidden to many (e.g., the days of the hedge schools), the oral tradition was the only means for sharing and preserving the stories, legends, traditions […]

It’s been another furious year of touring and music making for The Young Dubliners. But, The ‘Dubs’ promise to squeeze Colorado into their busy schedule to perform one night only at the Colorado Irish Festival on Friday July 13. The ‘Dubs’ founder and frontman, Keith Roberts, recently spoke with the Celtic Connection about life in […]