12 Facts about The Hebridean Celtic Festival
- The Hebridean Celtic Festival annually stages live music in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
- The festival takes place over four days in July and is in its 14th year. This year's dates are Wednesday 15th July – Saturday 18th July
- Past headline acts have included Van Morrison, The Levellers, Hothouse Flowers, Runrig, The Waterboys and The Proclaimers, who have all played at various times in our 5,500 capacity Marquee (which is also used at T in the Park)
- This year's line up includes: The Sharon Shannon Big Band, La Bottine Souriante, Michael McGoldrick Band, Blair Douglas Band, The Wilders, Karen Matheson, Fred Morrison and Le Vent du Nord. The Chair, Calum Martin’s Megantic Outlaw, Box Club, Face the West and Friends, The Ploughboys, Calum Alex & Seonaidh Beag MacMillan, Gary Innes & Ewan Robertson, Norrie MacIver & Sineag MacIntyre, and Deoch an Dorus.
- Attendances each year are approximately 16,000 in number
- The festival is family-friendly with workshops, street performers, pub sessions and busking – the festival also produces other community-based performances outside Stornoway which features top acts
- Visitors from over 80 countries regularly attend the festival (this year that number is expected to rise even higher) – the USA, Québec, Ireland, Spain and Africa are just some of the countries that performers have come from
- The festival is a keen supporter of local talent and provides opportunities for home-based musicians and bands to play before festival audiences
- Past awards include being voted Event of the Year 2004 by the public for the HandsUpForTrad Awards which are co-sponsored by the BBC
- Gaelic is very important to the festival with opening night, workshops and other features of the event all dedicated to the language
- The Festival is made possible each year by a huge army of unpaid local volunteers and a team of four directors
- More information is available from www.hebceltfest.com or www.myspace.com/hebceltfest
