2019 Rose & Shamrock

by the Numbers:

2

The number of Celtic Festivals that run in Lancaster County. The Rose & Shamrock is one of them!

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2

The number of FREE admission Celtic Festivals in Pennsylvania. The Rose & Shamrock is one of them!

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3,000

Estimated Total Number of 2019 Attendees.

Estimated Demographic:

20% Lancaster County

80% Outside  of Lancaster County

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6

The number of local & regional Media Organizations that covered the Festival (including WJTL, WGAL, Engle Publishing, Irish Edition Newspaper of Philadelphia, LNP)

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$87,000

The cost to run the 2019 Festival.

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$84,000

The amount of money raised in 2019 through competitor fees, corporate sponsorship, donated services and goods, and individual sponsorships.

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$8,500

Amount spent on awards for the Bagpiping Competitors, Irish Dance Competitors, Irish Music Competitors, Irish Art Competitors, & Irish Baking Competitors

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$350

Amount given to Schreiber Pediatric Rehab from money raised by our Charity Irish Dance Competition.

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870

Irish Dance Competitors who attended in 2019. They came from 94 different Irish Dance Schools and 15 different states as

well as Canada.

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30

Irish Music Competition Entries for 2019.

It was one of the largest Irish Music competitions in the tri-state area.

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22

Irish Art Competition Entries for 2019.

Entries ranged from small children to

professional artists and from several

different states.

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20

Irish Baking Competition Entries for 2019. Entries ranged from beginner to

adult with competitors coming from several different states.

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1

Child who danced in our Special Needs

Irish Dance Competition.

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25

Bagpipers who participated in our Bagpiping

Competition. They came from 8 different states.

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10

Stages that ran during the Festival featuring

Irish Dance Competitors, Scottish Country Dancers, Fiddle Workshops, Bodhran Workshops, History Demonstrations, Bands, a Welsh Choir, and more!

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125

Volunteers from 25+ different local and out-of-state organizations made the day possible!

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21

Celtic vendors offered everything from Celtic Food to kilts to Irish dance shoes.

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7

Tables of Celtic Organizations and Clans

offering historical and educational information.

History

A history of Rose & Shamrock

The Rose & Shamrock got its start as an idea by local Irish musician Tom Knapp, the fiddler with Fire in the Glen, who thought Lancaster deserved its own yearly Irish music festival. Tom had organized a one-off music festival years before for Elizabethtown College, but he thought the county -- which has a rich Scots-Irish heritage beneath the Pennsylvania German veneer -- deserved an annual event in the heart of Lancaster city.

Tom approached Harvey Owen, then director of the Ware Center in downtown Lancaster. Harvey enthusiastically embraced the idea and put it on the Ware Center's calendar for February 2014. The festival would be held there for three years before the center's new leadership decided not to continue the event.

That's when Esther Pujol, owner of the Paloma School of Irish Dance and founder of the Lancaster Celtic Arts Foundation, stepped up to keep the festival afloat -- not only breathing new life into the existing event but expanding it to a larger venue and adding a feis -- an Irish dance competition -- to the lineup.

Under Esther's leadership and with a new committee of dedicated volunteers reshaping its vision, the Rose & Shamrock became a free event, now housed more centrally at the Lancaster County Convention Center, with even more music, educational opportunities and competitions in a variety of Celtic cultural arts. The first year under Esther's leadership more than 800 dancers competed in the feis, and attendance was more than attended the first three festivals combined.

Tom's band, Fire in the Glen, and the dynamic duo of Charlie Zahm and Tad Marks have become yearly staples at the festival. Other performers have included headliners Barleyjuice, Dublin 5 and Burning Bridget Cleary, plus local and regional bands including Across the Pond, the Belfast Connection, Birmingham 6, the Celtic Martins, Cormorant's Fancy, Down By the Glenside, the John Byrne Band, the Kilmaine Saints, the Ogham Stones, Seasons and Tommy's Fault.

Now in its sixth year, the Rose & Shamrock is exploring opportunities to grow even further and expand into additional venues in downtown Lancaster. It looks like the Rose & Shamrock is here to stay!