9 - 10 January 2025
The Celtic Festival hosted by the St. Columba church is a big attraction in Marathon and requires a lot of helping hands to make it a success. Last year, Clark and I helped with the set up and tear down of the tents as well as the hanging of the banners surrounding the field. This year we once again volunteered for set up and tear down on Thursday before the event and the teardown afterwards.
We biked to and from the boat to the field. That in conjunction with the five hours I spent on Thursday hauling folding tables and chairs, buckets of waters to hold tents down in a wind, and helping to assemble tents and the pub bar, I was done in. Clark, however, wandered over again on Friday and found himself directing vendors on where to park their vehicles.
In between toting tables and helping to put up tents, we did manage to take a few pictures.
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| Clark digging for tools in the backpack |
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Clark climbing out from under the tent
as it is being raised. |
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| Children's tent fully assembled. |
Pastor Debra nominated Clark to be in charge of building "the castle". I thought this was something for the children's tent. Boy was I wrong! The castles are the structures at the entrance gate. Unfortunately, the person in charge of this activity every year retired from the job. At first no one seemed to have a clue of how it was even supposed to look let alone be put together.
Finally, someone found some pictures and a man who had some knowledge of previous work done to make this happen. First they laid out 3 wooden frames and placed the painted tarps over the frames.
Initially, some guys helped Clark get started with attaching the tarps to the frames using screws. Eventually, they all got called away to other tasks and left Clark to complete this part of the project.
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| Clark caught me taking a picture of his work! |
Once the canvas was attached to each frames, the frames had to be attached to each other to form an entryway. By the time this was done, a crew had gathered to help stand the castle wall up to rest against the fence. The "castle" was then fastened to the chain-link fence via lengths of rope. Voila! One done and a second one to go.
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Entrance at Gate 1 completed with
help from the team of volunteers. |
Signs are posted all over the park advertising the event and promoting the sponsors who help make the festival a possibility.
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Pastor Debra with an
armload of banners |
As the Festival banner was hung over the stage, I was asked to be the eyes to tell them when it was centered.
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| "A little more to the left, please!" |
Besides set up and tear down of the field, I got volunteered to work at the Pub Tent on Sunday. I helped build it on Thursday. With the help of the Pub Tent Manager, my friend Nancy, we built the bar at the entrance where orders and money would be taken. We put up a plastic sheet on one side to protect against wind and rain. We laid some faux carpet as well as a banner looking like the insides of a pub.
The blue-topped bar at the entrance to the pub gave Nancy and I a very hard time. The base is fat PVC pipe. The zip ties we had were not long enough to go through the wooden top and around the pipes. We fought long and hard with joining zip tie together and then feeding them through the wooden panel and around the pipes. What would have taken Clark seconds, quite literally took me minutes!
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Pub tent assembled, but not quite ready for
business yet. |
While we were working at the park, Clark got a call from his friend "Johnny Live" who said he was at the church and needed some help with the sound equipment / mixing board. After five hours on the field, about 3:00, we rode our bikes (about a mile) to the church. I sat doing nothing while Clark worked with John. When done, we biked almost a mile back to the boat. We certainly got our exercise for the day. Somehow I managed to get enough energy to cook some food and get it to the table!
On Friday morning around 10:00, Clark went over to the field to see what he might do to help. He got assigned parking duty for vendors. When not busy directing traffic, he got to catch up on his email, etc. on his phone.
Meanwhile, I rested on the boat and played with some new pastel pencils I got from Amazon. I have not worked with pastel pencils before. I am not a great artist but I do enjoy being creative.
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My first ever pastel-with-pencil picture.
A fox in case there was any doubt! |
When Clark returned from the field on Friday, he brought back a picture of the further progress that had been made to bring the field to life.
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Big tent for church service on Sunday at 9:30
plus viewers of the performers on stage throughout
the festival |
One never knows what one might see in Marathon. Just by happenchance Clark got to observe a parade of "Wounded Warriors" traveling from Key Largo to Key West. The line of participants went on and one.
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| Wounded Warrior truck in the lead |
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| Too many participants to capture them all in the picture! |
11 January 2025 - Saturday at the Celtic Festival
A benefit of being a volunteer is free entry to the event. Clark and I received our workers' t-shirts and wrist bands for admittance to the park. With a brief rainstorm predicted for Saturday at noon, we decided to go over after the rain and the cold front had come through. At quarter past 12:00, the skies darkened as the cold front approached.
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| First appearance of dark clouds |
Five minutes later, the clouds had covered the area, and the deck in the cockpit was starting to get wet. As the wind picked up, I worried about all the tents on the field hoping that the ropes tied to the buckets-of-water anchors around the tents would hold everything in place as the blow passed over.
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| Clouds moving in and settling |
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| Complete cloud cover |
We had bright sunshine and warm temperatures before the front came in followed by a brisk chill in the air as it passed through. Knowing what to wear in the Keys is a definite problem. On Friday I had on long pants and a jacket while others, by the pool, were more-reasonably dressed in bathing suits and shorts. The wind on the docks frequently fools us into believing we need warmer clothing than necessary.
By 12:45, the front had passed over. Had I wanted to, I could have counted the number of raindrops that could be seen on the cockpit deck. A little after 1:00 we walked over to the park. Half way there, it started to rain again. We got a little damp from the quickly passing shower.
I mentioned to Clark that we needed a picture of the Castle Walls he built, so we went to Gate 1 for a photo opp.
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| Clark's Castle (wall) |
The events were in full swing when we arrived. We decided to wander the vendor stalls as our first order of business. The people reflected the change in the weather. We saw folks shivering in sleeveless shirts, and others, who had become creative, wrapped in whatever they could find to keep warm.
As this is a Celtic Festival, we admired the attire of the vendors and visitors alike.
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This man walked around introducing his live owl
to all the attendees on both days. |
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This shirt - too ugly to pass up on
taking a picture |
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| Scottish Gentleman |
Food vendors sold beer, kettle corn, and a multitude of Celtic-styled cuisine such as haggis and shepherd's pie. Some of the stalls had brochures on such things as animals in need of adoption at the local shelter, and skin cancer awareness. The dolphin research center had a stall as did the Turtle Hospital who had brought a recovering turtle with them to display.
Souvenirs of all sorts could be bought from works of art to garlic pickles and a myriad of things in between.
I just had to point out this opportunity to Clark. A friend of ours, Allie, brought a bunch of coconuts to the boat, and we painted them for free! $25 to paint a coconut felt outrageous, but we saw folks partaking of the offer.
The festival presented opportunities for the children including a petting zoo, bouncy houses, and games.
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| The Children's Glen |
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| Flamingo Ring Toss game |
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| Jenga |
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| Petting zoo for toddlers |
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| Petting Zoo for older children |
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| A variety of live animals penned together |
I saw a man sitting in a tent by himself and wondered what was what until I saw the rest of the bivouac area that had been set up on display.
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Staffed in period costume --
Hospital tent, sleeping quarters, and mess tent |
The festival offers a Tea Party and at 3:00 on Saturday (special tickets required) visitors can have lunch with the Queen of Scots.
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Queen of Scots
at the Tea Tent |
The festival offered two full days of entertainment with lively bands including Screaming Orphans, Albannach, and Jamison. Each group performed three times during the festival.
Screaming Orphans video
The Drake Irish Dancers kicked up their heels on stage.
Several times the Police Pipe and Drum of Florida made their way to the stage.
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Young boy enjoying the music of the
Screaming Orphans |
During one of the performances, we caught Pastor Deb up on stage singing into the microphone. Afterwards, she gave a blessing and a prayer for the festival.
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| Pastor Deb having a good time |
Albannach is a Scottish band and includes bagpipes and a
digeridoo. Nancy told me that the player of this instrument never breaths in through his mouth. Air in through nose and out into instrument is all he does.
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| DigeriDrew on the Digeridoo |
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| Albannach Band |
The lively energy from this band and the great sound they produced made this performance very enjoyable and very difficult not to get hands clapping and feet stomping along with the songs.
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Police Pipe and Drum
preparing to perform |
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| Police Pipe and Drum performing |
The group called "Jamison" participated in the festival for the first time this year. They came all the way here from Philadelphia to participate in the show. They asked if people though it was cold today. Everyone answered "Yes!" Then he said that it was 28 degrees in Philadelphia when they left, and they were happy to be in Marathon.
All of the groups had merchandise for sale.
The festival had a good turnout of attendees on both days. Measured in beer kegs, the show did better this year than last. 22 kegs kicked in 2024. 23 kegs kicked this year!
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Some of the crowd listening
to the performers on stage |
Throughout Saturday, "Ladies of the Keys Highland Athletics" athletes displayed their strength during a variety of competitions. Tossing poles the length of telephone poles took tremendous strength. The women's version was skinnier than the ones I have seen men throw. Still it is unbelievable that they can lift and throw them any distance at all. They also had various heavy objects that were thrown, and the distances achieved measured out with a tape.
When the athletes were between competitions, the dogs came out to show us how to herd goats.
The shepherd worked with two dogs (brothers) simultaneously. By the tone of his whistle, the dogs knew who was to lay down and who was supposed to herd. He directed them in both direction and speed just by blowing the whistle. Amazing to watch!
Knowing we would be back on Sunday, I managed to coax Clark into leaving so we could go find some dinner. On the way back to the boat, we got to see the sunset.
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| Sun setting over the lobster traps |
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| Sun setting at Marlin Bay Marina |
12 January 2025 - Sunday at the Festival
St. Columba, who hosts the festival, holds a contemporary church service in the park on the Sunday of the festival. The service started at 9:30, and since Clark was part of the band for the service, he had to be at the park at 8:30 this morning. I stayed in bed until the last possible minute and then walked over just before the service began.
At the beginning, we had a few minutes of bright sunlight but then the sun hid behind the clouds. I had on 4 layers of clothes and was happy for all 4 layers. The pastor made a joke about us all shivering in our boots when it was almost 70 degrees out. There is something about that north wind that makes even the 60s feel chilly.
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| Pastor Debra and visiting pastor |
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Clark, John, and the rest of the band
getting ready to play |
The service was lovely, as usual, with a good sermon and nice familiar tunes like "Morning has Broken".
We checked the festival program and the weather for the remainder of the day and decided that we would go back to the boat to put away guitars, etc. and then head over to the park again around 1:20 in time to get there before my assigned duties began at the Pub Tent.
The plan for me to tally up the bill and take payment for food changed in a hurry. When faced with a hoard of waiting customers, my heart raced and I just could not do it. The prices were unknown to me. The procedures were unknown to me. The pressure overwhelmed me. Thank goodness a talented young man stepped in to take the orders and tally the bill. I helped take money, ran the credit card swipe, and was the runner to get the food. It all worked out well in the end. All I can say is, "Thank God for Jacob!" He was not even scheduled to work. He just showed up and said he would like to help.
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Very happy to have Jacob with me at
Nessie's Pub |
I had a good view of the stage, and when not busy, could enjoy the performances. Several folks I know came by to buy something or just to say hello. I saw folks I know from the marinas here, from the church, and from art class. Sometimes it gets confusing to remember names and how I know them.
The Pub sold wine, soda, water, pretzels (with cheese optional), hot dogs (chili and cheese optional), and cinnamon rolls. White wine seemed particularly popular. The wine bottles were ridiculously hard to open. Thank goodness there was a man working with me that could do the job of opening the bottles for me.
At 4:30 someone on stage announced "last call for beer". We had a few stragglers after that and then it was time to get to work at 5:00 closing down the tent. Everything we had assembled on Thursday had to be torn down now that the festival was over. I helped with the Pub tent for a while doing what I could. Since there were four others doing that job, I left after a while to go find Clark. I knew he had the hard job of tearing down the "castle" walls that he built on Thursday. That was definitely not a one person job.
I knew where Clark would be and as soon as he saw me he said, "I could use some help over here!" He was busy removing all the screws that had been used to cover the wooden beams with the canvas and then connect the frames to each other. Someone showed up to collect the wooden frame for storage and helped us get the canvas off the frames so he could cart them away.
Thank goodness Clark had thought to bring a headlamp or we would have been working in the dark. Still it took a good long time to complete Gate 1 and then we had to walk over and disassemble the wall at Gate 2. When we finally finished that task, we were asked to take down some banners attached to the fence.
By the time we walked back to our boat, it was full dark, and my legs were beyond tired. I was never so happy to climb onboard the boat. I managed to heat up a frozen pizza for dinner and then relaxed with a novel. I finally managed to finish the 630-page book loaned to me "Winds from the Carolinas" (a family saga). While I did that, Clark watched two related movies that held no interest for me whatsoever.
When I finally climbed into bed, I turned down the volume on my phone happy that I did not have any alarms set to go off in the morning.
13 January 2025
Clark and I both slept in. I stayed on the boat all day as I had no energy to even walk around the marina. It felt good to do basically nothing. In the afternoon Clark went out and found folks by the pool, so he decided to go for a swim. He had a message for me from other boaters to come to the pool. I declined.
We were too busy tearing down castle walls yesterday to see the sunset. Clark captured pictures of the setting sun this evening.
