How do two ice cream cones lead to a two-day event of Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton music and dance, and a regular series of Celtic events?

It all started when Laura Cortese (Scottish fiddle) and Shannon Heaton (Irish flute) met up on the way to a show at Johnny Ds in Somervilles Davis Square. They stopped in Denises ice cream before the show, and started talking about all the great traditional acts theyd seen lately -- a few stellar local bands, and a stream of players from Ireland and Scotland and Cape Breton.

As they ate ice cream in Davis Square, they started talking about how excellent it would be if even more of the fine local trad players [link to schedule page] worked with good folk music venues like Club Passim , The Burren Bar , Johnny Ds and the Canadian American Club to reflect the wide and spectacular pool of Celtic artists in the Boston area and to involve and to attract the audiences who love these traditions. By the end of the concert that evening, Laura and Shannon had begun to cook up plans for a weekend-long showcase of local traditional talent -- a Boston Celtic Music Fest to celebrate the rich, diverse pool of traditional music and dance talent in the Boston-area AND to generate excitement, ideas, organizational infrastructure, seed money, and audience and artist support for a funded concert series of local traditional music and dance (with a different concert each season, featuring different Boston-based music and dance acts!).

Laura and Shannons initial enthusiasm for BCMFest (the festival and, eventually, the concert series), as well as the growing line-up of people who continue to get involved with BCMFest, helps explain the viability and vitality of a high quality festival and series of Boston-based traditional music and dance. As BCMFest enters its fifth year, the festival is stronger than ever, and its vision more refined. By presenting touring professionals, tradition-bearers, and young performers, the festival offers a variety of music not found anywhere else. And by continuing to make the music the first priority, BCMFest avoids the pitfalls of corporate control.