Embedded Files
Cascadia Irish Music (not quite a) Week, Aug. 12 - 16, 2026
We're very happy to announce Cascadia 2026, a somewhat shortened and smaller wingding than usual, but with wonderful teachers, great classes and talks, and sessions go leor. We'll offer three full days of classes in fiddle, flute and concertina, plus warm summer nights filled with great sessions and intimate concert/talks with our teachers. Our venue once again is the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It's a beautiful campus, set in the midst of a thousand acres of mostly forested land, with great hiking trails and a lovely beach on Eld Inlet, the southenmost point of the Salish Sea. Lodging is in pleasant apartments set back in the trees, with four or five private rooms in each unit, plus a shared living room area, kitchen and bathroom. Meals will be served in The Greenery restaurant, with vegetarian and vegan options available. We hope you can join us this summer, read on for details.
Best wishes from The Cascadia Board
A word from Artistic Director Randal Bays
A word from Artistic Director Randal Bays
Over thirty years ago I went to Ireland to record and perform with fiddler Martin Hayes, and while there I was at the Scoil Samraidh Willie Clancy (Willie Clancy Summer School). I'd been playing fiddle for a long time but it seemed most of the festivals I saw here in the States were commercially oriented, "green beer" festivals. I was impressed to find that Willie Week was really about the music and the people, not the commercial side of things... there was a great feeling of community and respect. A few years later, in March 2002, I founded the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp with a friend, Dan Paulson, who lived on San Juan Island. It was a great success and ran for ten years. After it ended I was looking for a way to have a similar event on the mainland and in the summer, hoping to make it more accessible to more people, especially young musicians. A group of friends came together to help found Cascadia Irish Music Week in 2013, and John Keane offered the support of the Seattle Irish Heritage Club. We're almost entirely tuition funded, no commercial sponsors. We bring teachers who are not only great musicians but who care about sharing and passing on the traditional music.
Ceol Cascadia also sponsors regional concerts and workshops, including the long running Irish tune learning classes taught by Randal Bays. Those classes have been going on for more than 14 years in Seattle, Olympia and online. Details can be found at http://randalbays.com/classesandlessons.html
This year's teachers include:
James Kelly and Randal Bays - fiddle
Florence Fahy - concertina
TBA - flute
See our faculty page for more information.
Many thanks for the generous support of the Irish Consulate and the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle.
Report abuse