By Mick Holien
In the vein of Christmas spirit, it sure seemed like a record crowd lined the streets of Polson no doubt mindful that Santa Claus was to be part the festivities.
But by the number of floats and the amount of work some groups put in to take a few block drive mostly down Main Street, Santa received a warm greeting when imo continues.
And maybe it was about as warm as possible as it seemed like not exactly tepid temps but pleasant thermometer readings and the lack of precipitation was the conversation piece of the day.
And to put a cherry on the evening’s festivities a record crowd made their way up the hill to the High School Auditorium for a lengthy songfest featuring Dublin Gulch, long a favorite, and Willson & McKee, a duo who used to call out little burg home.
The concert is all of part of Mission Valley Live’s Performing Arts Series which presents a half dozen such concert in the fall and winter months.
More about Mission Valley Live but I have to tell you the Celtic Holiday was simply quite a show.
The two groups perform together and the evening was punctuated by the dancing of Dublin Gulch found Tom Powers young daughter – I am sorry but I didn’t catch her name – but she attended UM and grabbed me on my way out the door to say she’s bought her own tickets since she was eight and had listened to me her whole life.
I always laugh when someone says that but sure am complimented.
Tom’s son Conor adds percussion for the group, which was founded by Powers and joined for music a quarter century ago by multi-talented musician Mick Cavanaugh, who is one of those guys that play about every variety of instrument.
Willson & McKee, who took their talent to area schools earlier in the day, describe themselves as downright fun and passionate people and did nothing but further prove those accolades.
Now I certainly am no connoisseur of Celtic music, but it came close to move from hand clapping to a little jig of my own.
Mission Valley Live holds as their mission and vision educational outreach for students by selecting acts that not only offer student workshops but cultural, rich informative and inactive entertainment.
Next up is Pavlo, described as a blend of Greek, Flamenco, Latin and Balkan music creating a Mediterranean sound.
Mark your calendar for Jan 19 at Ronan Performing Arts Center.
Just sayin’
