Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project
P.O. Box 253
Wymore, NE 68466
402-421-8192
www.welshheritage.org
For Release September 30, 2013
Fifth Welsh Heritage Festival to be Held in Wymore, October 4-6
The Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre, 307 South Seventh Street, Wymore, will be the scene of the fifth Welsh Heritage Festival next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Welsh Americans and their descendants will gather from all over the Midwest, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Welsh Centre, and the opening and dedication of the Archives for Welsh America, the new building attached to the Welsh Centre.
Several Festival events are free and open to the public:
- Two demonstrations of herding dogs will take place in McCandless Park on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 and 3:00 pm, and the local Dulcimer players group will provide a musical interlude between their performances. Pleasant View School will be open for tours as well. You may bring a lawn chair or just stand and watch.
- On Sunday morning at Bethel Cemetery five miles south of Wymore at 10:30, the “spirits of the Welsh pioneers” will rise up from their graves, and tell the stories of their adventures, triumphs, and tragedies in this new land.
- Sunday afternoon at 2:00 there will be a Gymanfa Ganu (a Welsh hymn singing festival) in the Wymore Presbyterian Church. The Welsh are rightly famous for their four-part harmony singing. You are welcome to come and participate, or just listen.
Festival registrants will gather Friday evening at the Holiday In Express Conference Centre for a buffet banquet with some light entertainment. Saturday morning at the Welsh Heritage Centre, Darris Williams from Salt Lake City, Utah will provide two seminars on Finding Your Welsh Ancestors, Joe Whitmore from Madison, Wisconsin will speak on Welsh Courting Customs, and at 11:30, Paul Eisloeffel, Archivist with the Nebraska State Historical Society, will preside at the dedication of the Archives for Welsh America.
Saturday afternoon there will be more seminars by our two guest speakers, individual genealogical consultations, the Ames (Iowa) British Foods Company will display a variety of British goodies for sale, and Joe Whitmore will demonstrate the carving of Welsh Lovespoons, a traditional Welsh Courting Customs. A banquet and entertainment back in Beatrice will conclude the Saturday program.
Participation in these events requires registration, which may be done on site for all events except the meals, for which preregistration is now closed.
Date and Time
Friday Oct 4, 2013 Sunday Oct 6, 2013
