Céad Míle Fáilte
A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!
CelticFest Warwick celebrates the rich Scottish and Irish cultural heritage of Queensland’s Southern Downs, Australia. The main event, CelticFest, is a bi-ennial Celtic Gathering staged in the Warwick Showgrounds on the King’s Birthday weekend in October including a full program of Scottish and Irish music on the Main Stage, Highland Games heavy events in the Main Arena, Medieval Arena with workshops, re-enactments and Viking combats and battles; massed pipe bands, Irish and Highland dancing, lost trades, Celtic themed markets, food and drinks - joined by the magnificent Highland Cows and Clydesdales! Visitors are welcomed to immerse themselves to #getyourcelticon in the contemporary Celtic culture of the region’s towns, villages and breathtaking natural landscapes with CelticFest Fringe events staged pre and post the main festival. Bordered by the Great Dividing Range with hills reminiscent of Scotland’s high country and valleys exuding that Irish feel, so much so that early Celtic settlers named one beautiful village, Killarney.
An evEnt iS bOrn
CelticFest was born out of the 150th birthday celebrations of the Warwick Caledonian Society in 2021. The Warwick Caledonian Society, a Scottish cultural organisation dedicated to promoting the dance, music and songs of Scotland, is the longest continuously-running Caledonian Society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society ran the Boxing Day Highland Gathering in Warwick for over 100 years, attracting large numbers of visitors from across Queensland and New South Wales until the late 1970s. In 2021, a Celtic celebration called the Warwick Pipe Band Muster was organised in recognition of the Warwick Caledonian Society’s 150th birthday and with the support of the Warwick Thistle Pipe Band, attracting some 2,000 visitors. With this genuine interest in Celtic culture in the marketplace, it was ascertained there was potential to create a larger, more diverse event to attract further visitation to the region.
With the momentum of a subcommittee of the Warwick Caledonian Society, the inaugural CelticFest was staged in Warwick and surrounds from 25 to 27 March 2022, attracting 4,800 people from across Queensland and Australia. Considering inclement weather in March, and to extend visitation in the shoulder season of Spring and to increase visitor length-of-stay post Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, the timing of the event was changed to the King’s Birthday long weekend in October. While WCS remains a CelticFest supporter and delivery partner, alongside the Warwick Thistle Pipe Band, the event has been completely spun out of the Society, with the inauguration of CelticFest Incorporated in March 2023; CelticFest Inc is now a volunteer-run, not for profit organisation. In 2023, CelticFest attracted just under 6,500 people to Warwick and surrounds, with over 83% of visitors from intra- or interstate, demonstrating the festival’s strong pull outside the region. Post-event, it was decided that CelticFest would become a biennial, with the next event running in 2025.
It RUns THROUGH OUR VEINS
From the 1850s, the Southern Downs region attracted high numbers of arrivals from Scotland and Ireland, with the latest census data revealing Warwick has 13.7% Irish and 11.9% Scottish ancestry, representing 44% higher than average Irish and 38% higher than average Scottish ancestry compared to the greater Australian population.
