Malad Valley Welsh Festival

 
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Adult and student poets may submit 1-5 works in any style or format before the June 10 deadline. Please send them to Welsh Festival Poetry Competition, Malad City Hall, 59 Bannock Street, Malad ID 83252.

Presentations this year will also emphasize poetry. Lucie Thomas Washburn’s topic is “The Welsh: Poetry in Their Souls.” John Good will talk about “Songs and Tales of Wales.” John Good, formerly of Oceans Apart, will also perform on the outdoor amphitheater on both days of the Festival.

The Festival will host many opportunities to hear excellent music. The choral concert, youth concert, and the piano duet concert will feature outstanding vocalists and instrumentalists. Celtic musicians will perform toe-tapping traditional music outdoors on the amphitheater.

Welsh castles will be the theme of the displays in the Cultural Hall this year. Pedigree charts and census information about early Malad Valley Welsh pioneers will be displayed. The photography exhibit will feature photos of Wales.

Activities for kids are planned this year, including pioneer games, face painting, bouncy castles, and painting dragons.

The popular wagon tours will take visitors on historic routes around Malad. The Oneida Quilters quilt show and bake sale will be held at the Senior Center. Samaria will also host events, including tours of the town, the Jenkins-Davis cabin, and a Welsh Children’s Farm. Tours will also be conducted of the historic 140-year-old Presbyterian Church.

The Senior Center will sponsor a community cookout on Friday, and the Samaria Community Foundation will sponsor a community breakfast on Saturday. Home craft and food vendors will have booths in City Park throughout the Festival.

The finale event on the Saturday evening of the Festival will be a gymanfa ganu and the “chairing of the bard,” honoring the winner of the adult poetry competition.

The Festival is partially funded by grants from the Idaho Humanities Council, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, Rocky Mountain Power Foundation, Southeast Idaho High Country Tourism, Union Pacific Foundation, and donations from businesses and individuals in Malad and elsewhere.

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