Province Promotes Celtic Culture at Irish Festival
More than 130,000 people will soon learn what a vibrant Celtic culture Nova Scotia has, as the province prepares to head to the largest Irish Festival in the world this week.
Tourism, Culture and Heritage Minister Len Goucher will lead a group of musicians, artisans and cultural representatives to Milwaukee to promote the province and its Celtic culture at the annual Irish Fest from Aug. 17 to 20.
"The Irish Fest presents a one-of-a-kind opportunity for us to promote our Celtic culture and products to a huge captive audience over three days," said Mr. Goucher. "Our goal is two-fold -- to develop export markets for our cultural products and to attract visitors with a Celtic interest to our province."
Nova Scotia is the featured attraction at this year's festival, which provides the province with more visibility and performance opportunities than any other participants.
Nova Scotian musicians Beolach, The Cottars, J.P. Cormier, Dave Gunning, Jerry Holland, Mary Jane Lamond and Buddy MacDonald will give individual performances in the daytime and then join together on stage for a traditional Nova Scotia kitchen party each night. Artisans Kathi Giberman of Patternworks and Ryan MacNeil of MacNeil Woodwinds will be demonstrating their crafts and selling their high-quality products on site.
Representatives from the Atlantic Craft Trade Show, Celtic Colours International Festival, Nova Scotia Gaelic College, Judique Celtic Music Interpretive Centre, Music Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Highland Village Museum, and Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo will be busy networking and developing new business opportunities.
The Irish Fest also provides exciting opportunities from a tourism perspective and is identified in the joint industry-government tourism plan as one of three new places the province will target with its tourism marketing plan this year.
"Our rich and diverse culture has always been a major part of our tourism promotions," said Mr. Goucher. "This festival takes it a step further because we are wrapping a tourism promotion around a cultural activity."
Nova Scotia tourism will have a significant presence at the festival. As the main attraction, the province has a large cluster of booths, which form what is being referred to by festival organizers as the "Nova Scotia cultural village". The village will be swathed in Nova Scotia tartan and full-colour images of the province's spectacular scenery and will be supported by promotional materials.
"The timing is perfect," said Mr. Goucher, "with Cape Breton being recently named by Travel and Leisure magazine as the best island to visit in North America and the fourth best island in the world. Our province and our Celtic heritage have a lot of profile right now and we are going to make the most of it."
Culture is a $1.2 billion industry in Nova Scotia, employing more than 28,000 people either directly or indirectly. Tourism is a $1.3 billion industry employing more than 33,000 people in the province. For more information on culture and tourism in Nova Scotia, see the department's website at www.gov.ns.ca/dtc .