Village readies for Celtic Festival

The village's annual Celtic Festival will be Sunday afternoon.
By STEPHANIE UJHELYI
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LEETONIA -- For Heather MacNaughton, the Celtic Festival is just a reminder of her Scottish heritage.
MacNaughton, owner of British Pastries and More, is just one of the many Scots, Irish and Welsh descendants who converge on the village for the Leetonia Celtic Festival, which will be from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Leetonia's Wick Park.
With simple recipes and complex flavors, the Scots have a unique culinary flavor.
It is this flavor -- whether it is food or music -- that makes Leetonia's Celtic Festival a big draw since its creation seven years ago. In addition to treating Leetonia-area residents to some of the sweetest tastes around from her downtown tearoom, her bagpiping has provided some sweet sounds for almost half a century.
During the Celtic Festival, MacNaughton will be selling her famous pastries, sausage rolls, meat pies, cookies and shepherd pies.
Simple and tasty
Generally, the ideas behind the cuisine are pretty simple, whether it is an entree or a pastry. It is their implementation that makes them special.
Shortbread is a traditional cookie recipe for the Scots. Each clan has its own recipe, and the final product is as unique as the clan's heritage.
McNaughton's Empire Biscuits are a favorite. Made up of plenty of butter, it is an elegant sandwich-style cookie with a hint of berry flavor with the raspberry spread in the center. Her Melting Moments recipe is a simple cake cookie with a touch of lemon glaze on top.
Other truly Scottish foods, such as haggis, can be found at the Celtic Festival. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish that includes sheep's "pluck" (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately an hour.
Celtic tunes
MacNaughton also plays the bagpipes with the McCallum Highlanders, a bagpipe and drum group that is among many performing traditional Celtic music at this year's festival.
Other performers include harpists from the Akron area and bagpipe soloist Raymond Exten from Philadelphia. The event culminates with the kilted mile race at 5 p.m. Loaner kilts are available on a first-come, first-served basis before the big race with each runner earning a T-shirt by finishing the race.
It seems only appropriate for Leetonia to be the place for the Celtic Festival. According to Marcia Hazel of the Leetonia/Washingtonville Chamber of Commerce, many of the first Celtic immigrants came to work at Leetonia's coke ovens.