After 15 years, the St. Augustine Celtic Festival has come to an end. Romanza-St. Augustine, the organization behind the festival and the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, cited a lack of funding from Florida’s arts and culture grants as a major factor in the decision.
Challenges Faced by the Festival
The festival, which drew crowds to sample whiskey, take part in the Highland Games, and browse vendors in St. Augustine’s historic downtown, faced difficulties in finding new volunteers to run the event. Romanza-St. Augustine President Albert Syeles stated that the organization’s difficulty in finding new faces to run the event, coupled with flagging state and county funding, increased cost of labor, and other developments, made it challenging to continue the festival.
The COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. immigration policies also affected the festival, with bands from Ireland, Scotland, and Canada facing trouble obtaining work visas to perform in the United States.
Syeles hopes that celebrations of St. Augustine’s Irish ancestry will continue, given the city’s rich history and what is believed to be the oldest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in America.
Romanza-St. Augustine is currently planning its next big event, the annual Romanza Festivale, scheduled for May 2027.
Original reporting: Jacksonville Today — read the source article.
