Bagpipes, Caber Tosses and Whiskey: South Jersey Celtic Festival Returns for Two Days in Burlington County

There are fall festivals, and then there are fall festivals where somebody may spend part of the afternoon throwing a telephone-pole-sized caber while bagpipes carry across the fairgrounds.

The South Jersey Celtic Festival & Highland Games returns to the Burlington County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Oct. 10, and Sunday, Oct. 11, for a two-day celebration that mixes Scottish athletics, Irish sport, live Celtic music, dancing, food, drink and hands-on cultural programming. The fifth annual festival runs from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days, rain or shine.

Admission is free, although the South Jersey Celtic Society is requesting a $10 donation per person to help support the festival. The grounds are dog-friendly, and organizers direct visitors to use Gate 2 for parking.

Highland Games Put the Muscle Into Saturday

The Highland Games are one of the weekend’s visual centerpieces, with traditional Scottish strength events bringing the unmistakable spectacle of heavy athletics to Columbus. Competitions include the caber toss, hammer throw and shot put, with Saturday’s awards scheduled for 5 p.m.

For anyone who has only seen a caber toss in photographs, the basic premise is almost absurdly simple to describe and considerably harder to execute: lift a long wooden pole, run with it and flip it end over end as cleanly as possible. Add the other throwing events, kilts and a fairground full of spectators and the athletic field becomes one of the festival’s natural gathering points.

Sunday shifts part of the emphasis toward learning, with the festival billing a Highland Games clinic and children’s games. The organizer’s current tentative schedule also keeps Highland Games activity running through much of Sunday, giving visitors who can only attend the second day plenty to see.

Celtic Sport Goes Beyond the Caber

The weekend is not limited to Scottish heavy athletics. Members of the South Jersey Rebels are expected to demonstrate hurling, the fast-moving Irish field sport played with a wooden hurley and a small ball, and lead mini-games for visitors interested in trying it themselves.

Elsewhere on the grounds, the current “Fantasy Hollow” schedule mixes cultural demonstrations and entertainment throughout both days. Shelli Buttons appears multiple times, with Irish stick fighting demonstrations, Gaelic lessons and a “Punnic War” activity also listed. It gives the festival a second layer for visitors who want to do more than watch the main stage or athletic field.

The Music Changes With the Day

Fiddler’s Green, the main entertainment tent, carries a different lineup each day, with pipers woven through the program and a musical tattoo near the end of both afternoons.

Saturday opens with the Rowdy Rovers at 10:45 a.m., followed later by Bardy Party, Taylor Country Dancing and Radio Fiction. The Shantys take the featured 3:45 p.m. slot before the Highland Games awards and the closing tattoo.

Sunday again starts with the Rowdy Rovers, then brings the Fitzgerald School of Irish Dance, Mike Brill, Celtic Flame Irish Dance and The McCools to the stage. Charlie Zahm, known for a repertoire steeped in Celtic, maritime and traditional music, is scheduled for the 3:45 p.m. featured performance before the 5:15 p.m. tattoo.

The result is a festival where the soundtrack keeps changing: pipes in the distance, dancers on the main stage, pub-style songs and traditional tunes, then another burst of music as the next group takes over.

Whiskey at 1:30, With Beer and Mead at Fiddler’s Green

Adults looking for a more structured tasting can head to the whiskey tent. The South Jersey Celtic Society’s Scotch and Whiskey Appreciation Club is planning a limited-seating tasting at 1:30 p.m. each day, designed to explore the differences among whiskey styles. The organizer’s current festival page lists tickets at $45 per person.

Fiddler’s Green is also expected to serve hard cider, wine, craft beer from Spellbound Brewing, Guinness, Smithwick’s and Valenzano mead. Food vendors and merchants will be spread around the fairgrounds, making it easy to turn the day into a slow circuit between athletics, music, shopping and something to eat or drink.

Clans, Dancers, Pipers and a March to Start the Day

Both mornings begin with the gates opening at 10:30 a.m. and a March of the Clans and Celtic groups. That opening procession is a useful summary of what the South Jersey Celtic Society is trying to build: not simply an Irish music festival or a Highland Games meet, but a broader gathering of Celtic organizations, performers, athletes and families.

Irish and Scottish dancers are part of the weekend, pipers will appear throughout the schedule, and clan and cultural organizations are invited to participate alongside vendors and nonprofits. The South Jersey Celtic Society, founded in 2014, organizes events throughout the year around Celtic heritage; the October festival has become its largest all-in-one showcase.

A Two-Day Festival That Rewards Wandering

The schedule is dense enough that trying to treat it like a checklist may be missing the point. Someone can watch a caber toss, hear a set of bagpipes, catch an Irish dance performance, learn a little Gaelic, wander through the merchants, watch stick fighting, sample mead and still discover another performance starting on the other side of the grounds.

That is the charm of a festival like this. The big attractions, Highland Games, The Shantys, Charlie Zahm and the whiskey tastings, give visitors obvious anchors. Everything in between is what turns a trip to the Burlington County Fairgrounds into a full day.

And with different headline performers and programming across Saturday and Sunday, there is enough variation to justify making a weekend of it. Just listen for the pipes.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Reporting sources: South Jersey Celtic Society current 2026 festival schedule and events page; Visit South Jersey; New Jersey Monthly; PhillyVoice. Details checked Oct. 5, 2026. The organizer labels portions of the schedule and beverage/tasting program as tentative.

Editor links: Official festival page | SJCS events page | Visit South Jersey listing