Nevada County Celtic Festival moved to spring to avoid wildfires
GRASS VALLEY — A popular Northern California festival is officially moving from the fall to the spring. We're talking about the family-friendly KVMR Celtic Festival in Nevada County.
With the annual threat of wildfires and billowing smoke in the county, the Celtic festival finally said enough is enough and they're making a big change.
"Being a festival in the fall, we were always kind of the closer of the festival season here in Grass Valley. We're now opening it," said over Celtic festival event producer Christian Gutt.
After several consecutive years of horrible air quality and a cancellation two days before the festival, local community radio station KVMR's annual Celtic festival has a new date: May 3-5.
"Since the beginning of the festival, it was always held in the fall because if you're a Californian, you know September is kind of the best weather," said event organizer Izzy Martin. "But no more. Not in California. Now we have fire weather."
This will be the 26th year for the Celtic festival, and they rely on ticket sales to put it on each year. The fundraising event for the local radio station has become a staple in the community.
"It's a huge deal. Most of the people I know have been to the Celtic festival," said Alta Sierra resident Gaylie Bell.
"Many people set their whole life around the annual meeting where we come back together," Martin said. "It's three nights. Many people show up and camp the whole time."
The Nevada County Fairgrounds, where the festival is held, also serves as an evacuation safe zone for emergencies, and in 2022, the people of Grass Valley were told to shelter in place, canceling the festival just two days before it started.
"That weekend, we had a fire hours from here but still, the smoke came down and filled in the Grass Valley area, and the musicians are like 'We can't play out in that,'" Gutt said.
"The skies are literally black and the air is toxic," Martin said.
Organizers are trying to get ahead of the confusion around changing the date but say the community has still been supportive.
"Well, the threat of fires – I mean, if we have to change it we have to change it – we're going to have to make a lot of changes because of the coming climate change," Bell said.
An added bonus is that festival organizers say the fairgrounds are lush and green this time of year, which is something that definitely isn't the case in September.