So where will I be on the last day of this month? At my favorite place for a music festival — Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick, Maine! It’s where the Saltwater Celtic Music Festivall will be taking place and it looks like it might will be very best music festival of the summer in southern Maine so it’s one you won’t want to miss!
The Maine Irish Heritage Center, which does Irish music, both local and nationally known groups, every month in Portland, Maine, is the major sponsor of the amazing festival on Sunday, July 31, at Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick, from noon until seven that evening.
Featured performers are Eileen Ivers (winner of the All-Ireland fiddle championship multiple times and a perennial concert sell-out when she performs anywhere in this area), the Dublin City Ramblers, Screaming Orphans, Prodigals, Buille, and the Maeve Gilcrist Quartet. Oh, did I mention that the ever superb Karan Casey will be there as well?
Thomas Point Beach is a lovely waterfront park, right off Route 24 near Cooks Corner, on the way to Orrs and Bailey Islands. The site has plenty of parking, incredible views, picnic tables, some excellent shaded areas and lots of wonderful grass to sit on, a playground and a pristine sand beach. Bring your sunglasses, beach chair or blanket, bug spray, sunscreen and umbrella (this is a rain-or-shine event), your appetite (lots of yummy food vendors will be there) and an ear for great Irish music.
Tickets for the Festival are available for a very reasonable twenty-five dollars from the Festival website. I should note that children under 12 are admitted free which makes this a wonderful way to introduce kids to this music! I hope to see you there!
