Join us for our Spring Fling with a Highland Flair as the 14th annual Ormond Beach Celtic Festival – returns to Rockefeller Gardens and Fortunato Park! Clans, pipers, and nationally sanctioned highland games athletes will gather on April 12 & 13, 2025 for two days of folk music, food and fun from the seven Celtic Nations and beyond.
The Festival occupies two Beachside Ormond parks along the Halifax River and fills them with 5 music stages, a Highland Games, clans and Celtic societies from throughout the region as well as a host of other activities. Voted the Best Local Event in the News-Journal’s Readers’ Choice poll, as well as Daytona Visitors Bureau, the weekend attracts more than 10,000 locals and visitors each year. Advance tickets are $12 each day for adultsor $15 at the gate. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets are available online at bit.ly/buyticketsoms. There is plenty of free parking, including free off-site parking with a free shuttle service to allow everyone access to the Festival activities.
The Piper Jones Band will be performing! Music will be everywhere as 25 musical groups and two Celtic dance troupes from throughout the region appear all weekend-long playing traditional Celtic and folk music. In addition to all the music on stage, the Festival’s two pipe bands, Daytona Pipes and Drum and the City of Mt. Dora Pipers, lead daily parades by all the attending Clans and fill the air with the sound of bagpipes.
Back by popular demand! After a brief hiatus, the Walker’s Shortbread Contest returns on Saturday, April 12 at 11AM. Compete for a prize and bragging rights, judged by Mayor Leslie, the honored clan, and other shortbread lovers!
You can enjoy games, food and draft beer including Guinness, Harp and Killian’s and also, wine. Stop by the jam tent with your fiddle, guitar, dulcimer or bodhrán and play along. Master teachers are available throughout the day and there are plenty of open jam sessions.
The Celtic Festival is a great family outing, with crafts and activities for the young ones both days, in the newly expanded Kid’s Zone over in the Highland Village. Grab some kid friendly grub from the street east square, jump in the bouncy castle or find your way through the bounce obstacle course, get your face painted and some fairy hair, stop to pet the many animals at the petting zoo area, watch live spinning of Cotton Candy, crafts, balloon art, and so much more!
On Sunday, be sure to be there for our annual Dog Parade. If your dog is an Irish setter, a Welsh corgi or a Scottie dog – or you just want to dress your pup in plaid – bring them out for the fun. All breeds are welcome! Just bring a donation or food for Halifax Humane Society and your dog will be entered in the parade. Register with our parade sponsor, NautiPets, or at the New World Celts booth in the Clan Village.
Fortunato Park, on the north side of the bridge, will be transformed into a Highland Village on both Saturday and Sunday, as many professional athletes will participate in the Highland Games. Want to give it a shot? Join the novice group. Our Highland Games are sanctioned by the North American Scottish Games Athletics organization, so its competitors rack up points toward the ultimate goal of competing in Scotland. Male and female athletes from around the region are expected to attend the Games and demonstrate their strength by throwing the caber, the hammer or the stone put, both Saturday and Sunday.
Don’t let the fun end there – join us at Fletcher’s Irish Pub at 393 W. Granada Blvd.on Friday evening for a kick-off party, where musicians and friends gather at 7PM. Return to Fletcher’s after Saturday’s festivities for a Ceilidh, with more music, more celebrating, and more fun.
If you’re more interested in traditional food than traditional sport, be on the lookout for vendors with meat pies, shortbread or fish and chips. Visit our Celtic vendors and food stalls up in the Celtic Village. We’ve nearly doubled our Celtic food offerings! So come relax with a pint of Guinness along the beautiful Halifax River. Get your own kilt. Discover your inner Celt. Take home something beautiful. Experience the Ormond Beach Celtic Festival!
