DISHING UP A PLAY DAY.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

PLEASANT HILL - There's a good reason Celts are not noted for fine cuisine.

Saying that haggis is an acquired taste is being far too magnanimous in describing the Scottish dish featuring sheep intestines, lamb's heart and liver.

"You got to like liver and heart," said Cathy Van Epps of Lebanon, who was serving up haggis, bangers (a sausage made of pork, beef and Scottish oatmeal) and shepherd's pie (a dish of mashed potato and minced beef) at the seventh annual Celtic Lughnasadh (loo-na-saah) Sunday.

"Either you like haggis, or you don't. Some find it real hot and spicy," said Brenda Carvoof Harrisburg, who joined Van Epps at the Celtic Food trailer, located the toss of a caber (a long, heavy Scottish wooden pole) from the Celtic sporting events venue.

The festival, sponsored by a nonprofit educational foundation, hasn't yet achieved the drawing power of the Junction City Scandinavian Festival. But organizers are trying valiantly to showcase the best of all that's Scottish and Irish.

Matt Schenck of Springfield was shown the finer points of the stone throw (similar to tossing a shot put) and the caber toss. When it comes to the caber, think of flipping a telephone pole end over end.

Keeping your balance while hoisting a 15-to 20-foot pole is key to a winning caber toss, Schenck said of the sporting event that will not be featured at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens later this month, and probably not at any after that either.

"You really have to lift with your whole body, using your legs, arms and back," Schenck said.

The festival, in a wooded area at the northwest corner of Highway 58 at Parkway Road in Pleasant Hill, is a traditional Celtic celebration of the harvest, said organizer Heather Nic an Fhleisdeir.

Other events included a pie baking contest and carnival games such as sling shot range, fairy ring toss and tossing a spear into a hay bale. Celtic artwork, pottery, clothing, jewelry, tapestries and toys also were available.

Toy replicas of 14th century jousting knights were popular among young boys, said Teri Lee of Portland's Firebrand Arts and Music.

"Everybody with a Y chromosome stops and looks at this," Lee said, referring to the German-made plastic figurines that sold for $5 apiece.

Some festivalgoers got in the spirit of things by dressing in costume. Harry Potter would have felt at home amidst the cap-clad adults.

And what would a Celtic festival be without men in kilts, with bagpipes?

Bagpipers are usually associated with Scotland, Ireland and England, but they also can be found in Scandinavia, the Czech Republic and Germany, said Tom McVey, a bagpipe player from Cottage Grove.

"It's basically a stick stuck in a bag," he said. "We jokingly call it wrestling with an octopus."

The fair was produced by An Ceangal Mara Foundation, a nonprofit cultural arts and education organization. Proceeds go to the foundation's scholarship grant fund.

Organizer Nic an Fhleisdeir said the idea of hosting a Celtic fair germinated about eight years ago when she was attending an African drum class. Aren't there Celtic drums, she wondered. A few days later, she recalled, a friend of hers was looking at a sweater made in Guatemala and asked "How do you get a Scottish sweater? She needed no more prodding, and a year later she held the first Celtic Lughnasadh.

"Many people are looking for roots, some kind of connection to their heritage," Nic an Fhleisdeir said, noting that Celts lived across western and central Europe, and as far east as Turkey.

CAPTION(S):

Aaron Birch (left), Kathy Marrs and her son Logan Marrs, 13, get into their characters in the parking lot before joining the Celtic Lughnasadh in Pleasant Hill. The trio dressed as Roman centurions typical of those who manned Hadrian's Wall in England during the 3rd century. F e s t i v a l Tom McVey of Cottage Grove plays his bagpipe to open the festival Sunday.