WELSHFest kicking off Saturday in Rockmart

The Latest Local News from the Cedartown Standard

Polk County’s annual celebration of Welsh heritage will kick off this weekend with breakfast at the First United Methodist Church in Rockmart, and it will be all you can eat.

Pancakes, sausage and drinks will be served from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. by the First United Methodist Men’s Club to help raise money for the River of Life Community Missions projects.

Breakfast is going for $6 a plate and includes drink, and is all you can eat througout the morning. It kicks off a weekend of fun celebrating Rockmart’s heritage from generations before who came looking for opportunity from a nearly forgotten corner of the United Kingdom.

WELSHFest in Rockmart is set for March 14, and already organizers are putting together a show that will feature music, food, art and more.

Part of this year’s entertainment includes a “Garden” Art Exhibit

with Hostess Julia Valenzuela for WELSHFest 2015 on March 14 at the Arts Center Theatre Gallery, 118 East Elm Street, Rockmart, GA 30153. No entrance fees are being charged for the show, though 20 percent of sales will go back to the Rockmart Cultural Arts Commission.

Work is being accepted at The Arts Center Theatre Gallery on the afternoon of March 12 between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. or Friday morning, March 13 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

David Llewellyn, who opened the original Rockmart WELSHfest in 2012, is scheduled to return on March 15 as a featured guest.

Organizers announced that Llewellyn is returning on the heals of two new CD’s. This award winning singer songwriter is now living in Nashville, Tenn.

He is a native of South Wales, which provided a down to earth upbringing whose values and early lessons he still holds dear. But at the age of 17, he began a successful career as a singer.

He arrived in America in 1991 and moved to Nashville to sign with a Music Row publisher in 1996. He later returned to Wales and realized he had honed his songwriting skills in Nashville and Austin, but it’s Celtic traditions and communities from which he draws his inspiration.

Llewellyn is only one of the many features of the attractions planned for the all-day March 15 festival, which involves members of the Rockmart Historical Museum, the St. David’s Welsh Society of Georgia and the Euharlee Valley Historical Society.

A number of the events will be held in and around Museum Square in the Rockmart. Activities are also planned at historic Van Wert Church. It was once the center of activity in the community, which drew a number of Welsh slate miners as early as 1838.

Hefina Phillips, member of the Welsh Gorsett of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, will be the Honorary Grand Marshall and will open the Festival on Saturday morning.

At 8 a.m., Keeping Up with The Jones Fun Run will begin on the Silver Comet Trail at Church and Water streets.

The Welsh Tea Room, featuring teas and desserts, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Silver Comet Trail Building on Water Street.

Men in Rockmart will be dressed in kilts and judging begins at noon for this unique competition. It will be held on the steps of the building housing the Museum and Polk County Chamber of Commerce on Marble Street.

The Welsh Long Bow, an archery demonstration, will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. near the intersection of Church and Water streets.

Welly Wanging will be featured at 2:30 p.m. at the same site. This is a sport that originated in Britain in Upperthong, Holmfirth. Competitors are required to hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within boundary lines, from a standing or running start. A variation requires participants to launch the welly from the end of their foot as if they were kicking off a pair of shoes.

Lessons in Welsh cooking, language and more will be taught throughout the day and a honey show will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Entries for this event are to be submitted by 11 a.m.

Visitors are encouraged to take a bus tour to historic Van Wert Chapel (church) throughout the day. Lectures and tours begin at 11 a.m. A walk through the cemetery where many early Welsh residents are buried will be featured at 1 p.m. and information will be presented about the life of Rev. Sam Jones, who once pastored the old church.

Rockmart Museum will be open so individuals can view the many treasures from the past housed in the facility.

Other scheduled highlights of the festival are:

A Hymn Singing Concert (or in Welsh: Cymanfa Ganu) for Friday night, March 14 in the historic Van Wert Church.

Awards will be presented to two Welsh crafts people – Kevin Thomas of Valley Mill, creator of the slate backs with their printing and Edna Morgan of Moo Di Mama, who has created the hand made outlines of Wales that will be attached to special presentations.

Sir Blackwolf and Dame Daggryning will bring their special Welsh Medieval flair period entertainments, their Medieval Welsh Faire Booth and a demonstration of the feared Welsh Long Bow.

The Jim Dunning Duo returns to the WELSHfest stage with his parlor pipes and other Celtic wind instruments for the third time. Adding his distinctive sound to traditional Welsh and Irish tunes.

Source: Cedartown Standard

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