BETHLEHEM, Pa. — It really wasn’t close. Kris Wagner is once again the Celtic Classic Conqueror of the Haggis, kicking off the festival’s 2024 showing to continue through the weekend.
Mike Darrell, haggis-eating runner-up who also placed third in the same event last year, had one word to describe Wagner, the back-to-back champion: “superhuman.”
Haggis is a dish of Scottish origin, typically made using sheep or calf organs, oatmeal, onions, salt and other spices. That concoction is usually boiled within the sheep or calf's stomach for an hour before enjoying.
Grinning, Darrell called the haggis “yummy,” saying it reminded him of scrapple and authentic Irish oatmeal.
Celtic Cultural Alliance's Celtic Classic is now in its 37th year, also featuring the U.S. National Championships of the Highland Games and about 50 retail and food vendors.
@CelticClassic 2024 is now underway, with @albannachmusic among the first performing acts of the evening. Story to come! @LVNewsdotcom pic.twitter.com/js9nbaUNYZ
— LVN Will Oliver (@LVN_WillOliver) September 27, 2024
The show chugs along, even with rain
Celtic Cultural Alliance's free-to-attend Celtic Classic is now in its 37th year, also featuring the U.S. National Championships of the Highland Games and about 50 retail and food vendors.
Five stages will feature a spread of entertainment across the three days, including a pipe band competition, athletic feats, fiddle competition and more for the whole family.
If you’re a foodie, you’re in luck: The festival spread includes numerous varieties of potatoes whether baked or pancaked, haggis, shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips, birdies, corned beef and cabbage poutine, and a whole lot more. There's also Guinness galore.
Pending the weather this weekend — there was a light but steady rain Friday evening — the festivities will kick off Saturday with the beloved Showing of the Tartan Parade at 11:30 a.m. and continue through the day Sunday.
The parade will start at Bethlehem City Hall, 10 E. Church St. Its route will head north on New Street, go west on Broad Street and then south on Main Street before ending at Highland Field between Spring and Lehigh streets.
Small but mighty (business)
Joel Zanni with Blue Frogs Company — a Lexington, Virginia, small business specializing in Celtic and Viking wood carvings, custom knives and more — said he’s been selling his work at the past handful of Celtic Classic festivals.
“We are a small business, but we crank out a lot of merchandise."Joel Zanni, Blue Frogs Company
“We are a small business, but we crank out a lot of merchandise,” said Zanni, who hails from Brittany, a region on the northwestern coast of France known for its Celtic heritage.
Though the majority of his works were carved out of mahogany, he featured some other offerings, including teak wood cups, cow bone cutlery and birds carved out of aspen wood. Zanni even handmakes knives — ones with handles from the antlers of elk, deer and moose, and blades shaped from Damascus steel.
'It's fun'
With red, puffy-plush beaters in hand and a bass drum strapped to his front, Mike Mayers brought the boom for Celtic United Pipes & Drums.
A chemical engineer by day, Mayers, of Bethlehem, said he’s been drumming on and off for the better part of 20 years.
Being with his group for about eight years, he found himself hopping instruments at one point, switching from tenor drum to bass, he said.
When asked why he’d want to have to carry the biggest drum of the bunch, Mayers didn’t think twice about his answer: “It’s fun.”
