As happens at the end of almost every June (Festival organizer Jean Thomas is clear to clarify that COVID caused some disruptions in the continuity of the event), the Malad Valley Welsh Festival brought a large number of people to town to celebrate or learn about the Welsh history of the area, and the culture of Wales in general.  

Over the course of the three day festival, many exciting things were on offer, including music, food, arts and crafts, history, and of course, poetry.  A new Bard for 2024 was chaired at the commencement of Saturday’s events, moving last year’s bard Blaine Scott into the esteemed emerita company of Jan Crowther, Dotty Evanson, Cory Webster, and Lamonte John.  By the end of the afternoon’s events, Candice Lemmon of Bountiful joined the previous bards on stage and was officially recognized as this year’s poet for her poem “Still They Fly”.

Although the chairing of the bard was the highlight event of the festival, modeled on the Welsh eisteddfod, it was by no means the only thing that went on during the weekend.  From presentations on Welsh topics, to Welsh language classes, historical tours, Welsh games, authentic Welsh food, and a great deal of music of all types, the weekend was as busy as it
was enjoyable.

Kids art and poetry

One of the most fun parts of the Welsh Festival for many local parents and students is the chance for young people to participate and compete in art and poetry competitions.  Over the course of the spring in the local school district, students of every grade level take on the theme for the year and come up with poems that they submit to the festival judges.  A committee narrows the entries down to a more reasonable number of semi-finalists, and they bravely make their way to the front of a crowded chapel to recite their poem from the podium.  For many people, adults and kids alike, the very idea of that kind of spotlight public speaking fills them with dread.  Despite some nerves, all of the students present to recite their poems did an excellent job, with some really throwing themselves into the drama of the scene, and others opting for a more stately approach.  

As the poems were recited, they were judged by a panel of former English teachers and writers.  As the poems had already been narrowed down for fitting the theme, technical merit, musicality, and so on, the recitation was the main component of the in-person competition.  Every student who girded up to attend the session in person and put themselves out in front of the public to be heard deserves a large amount of recognition and applause.  Many of the students had their work memorized, and were able to deliver it dramatically.  Some provided voices and other acting elements.  All in all, it was a splendid display of talent, and very much in the Welsh tradition.  By grade, the winners were:

Kindergarten: 1st Rylan Price, 2nd Kortney Price, 3rd David Arthur

First Grade: 1st Raelynn Patterson, 2nd Maylee Hanks, 3rd Tate Curtis

Second Grade: 1st Brianna Williams, 2nd Maliah Hansen, 3rd Azlin Jeffs

Third Grade: 1st Kyler Price

Fourth Grade: 1st Alyssa Cutler, 2nd Whittney Roe, 3rd Frank Fesler

Fifth Grade: 1st Cassidy Schrenk, 2nd Thatcher Sweeten, 3rd Lineni Lavaka

Middle School: 1st Seth Hucakaby, 2nd  KaDee Kim Daniels, 3rd Ellie Angell

High School: 1st Miriam Teeples, 2nd Carter Smith, 3rd Abigail Cox

During the Festival, winning artwork selected by the committee members was displayed in the basement of the church building.  Dragons being the theme for the year, it was a popular year for productions of many types and styles.

In addition to demonstrating their talent in the realm of poetry and art, Friday also featured a youth musical concert, which included a lot of impressive musicianship. 

Youth Music

A fantastic performance took place Friday afternoon, with a large number of talented performers hitting the stage.  The concert, which lasted around and hour, included piano selections from Jack Coleman, Eva Coleman, Lafe Huckaby, Seth Huckaby, Daisy Huckaby, Jens Huckaby, Curtis Huckaby, Garren Huckaby, and Christine and Paisley Smith. 

Other instruments were also involved, as a number of different and entertaining pieces were presented.  Danielle Pettis’ violin and Addler Garrett’s bass clarinet, along with a duet from Karly and Kamryn Bennett on the cello and string bass represented strings well for the afternoon, and in the brassiest of brass moves, Tanner and Ted Bennett brought a very entertaining euphonium and tuba arrangement of the “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” to the plate.

Vocal performances were given by Joe Willie, Abbie Cox (who presented an original composition and accompanied herself on the ukulele), Kolton Cox, and a lovely duet from Liam Atkinson and Karmyn Charles.  

Whenever poetry is involved in a discussion of Welsh culture and heritage, some mention of music is never far behind.  The two interwoven strains of artistry help create that uniquely Welsh fabric that the Festival celebrates, and these young performers represent laudable exempla of the bard’s love of song.  

Concerts

A steady lineup of bands performing a mix of traditional Celtic, more modern, and folk music entertained visitors to the open areas in the City Park.  The Boy Scouts put up a series of shade awnings to keep the afternoon cool for those who stopped to listen.

Inside, Friday’s musical concert featured the Celtic song stylings of “Bards and Nobles,” as well as pieces from the Malad Valley Welsh Mens Chorus, a harp duet by Jill Weaver and Justine Turcotte, and guitar and banjo music from Lee Ivie.  

Saturday, audiences were treated to a piano ensemble concert, featuring piano pieces played by two or even four at once.  “Razzamatazz” was played by Jess Garrett and Jean Thomas, “Summer Samba” by Helen Ward and Maggie Lund, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” Lucie Washburn and Jean Thomas, “Celebration” Patsy Bybee and Trudy Ward, a Joplin Medley by Jan Myers, Lucie Washburn, Maggie Lund, and Helen Ward, “Rush Hour in Hong Kong” by Yvette Zobell and Sheila Green, “Theme from Inspector Gadget” by Maggie Lund and Ruby Lewis, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Christine and Paisley Smith, and the traditional closer, “Stars and Stripes Forever” featuring Jan Myers, Helen Ward, Lucie Washburn, and Jean Thomas.

If you have never heard an ensemble concert with a full troop of pianos, it is hard to describe how rich and affecting pieces performed that way can be. 

Presentations

During both Friday and Saturday morning sessions, visitors to the Welsh Festival were treated to a set of presentations from local Welsh Festival Committee members.  

To open the event, Lucille Washburn presented an overview of the theme itself, with a rundown of the dragon in general as a mythic and folkloric archetype, as well as specifically a Welsh icon.  

Luke Waldron, director of the Malad Valley Heritage Square in Samaria, spoke to a brunch audience about Welsh food traditions and some of the items that were being presented at this year’s “Taste of Wales” booth in the park.  In addition to the leek soup that it often associated with the Welsh (Leeks being one of the national symbols of the country), Waldron introduced the audience to a variety of Welsh foodstuffs, both sweet and savory.  

2023 Bard Blaine Scott and his wife Tara spoke on their trip to Wales, pointing to some of the highlights of the tour, and some of the friends and family they had met along the way.

Fiction Contest

The fiction contest component of the Festival is relatively new, with this year’s winner Ben Simmons being officially named the new fiction winner by Mike Brignone, who won last year’s competition.  Brignone himself was only the third such in the Festival’s history, with Bob Crowther being the first to be so named.

Over the three years, the number of submissions to the fiction contest has increased substantially to the point where now reading through the full stack of submissions is more than a casual undertaking.  Many of the submissions fall into the historical fiction genre, with dramatized retellings of family and local history events.  

Others take more whimsical and fantastic approaches, with in this case a conversation between dragons, a recounting of historical events in Welsh history, and events in the life of a local teacher among the entries for this year.  Of all the submissions, the winning story involved action and adventure at a cave and mysterious Welsh protector.

Simmons kept the audience on the edge of its seat as he laid forth his tale of treasure and treachery.  Simmons will in turn name next year’s fiction winner.  Unlike poetry submissions, fiction submissions are not tied to any particular theme, though Welsh content and Western content is the state of play generally.

Chairing of the Bard

The Bard of the Welsh Festival is the reigning artistic voice of the festival for the year of their tenure, except in the case of Cory Webster who held the title for multiple years as a result of COVID restrictions.  It is the responsibility of the bard to preside over the poetry events, and to officially invest the newly named bard with their authority upon their naming by the committee.

The process by which a poet becomes bard begins with submitting a poem addressing the theme for the year’s Welsh Festival, in this case: Dragons.  The theme is selected by the former bards, who are not eligible for submitting their material again for two years.

This year, as part of the Festival events the bards presented what they called a “Bard’s Circle,” where all of the former title holders recited their own poems in accordance with the theme.  They each also spoke on what brought them to writing and art in the first place. 

As the chairing drew closer, an unexpected occurrence raised the dramatic stakes for the afternoon, as Blodwyn Jones was revealed to be none other than Knight of the Festival Bob Washburn!  Despite the fact that his wife was one of the poetry judges, Washburn’s ruse (which even included a second pseudonym for his fake “real” name) even fooled her and the reveal of his identity was truly in the spirit of the Welsh eisteddfod.  Washburn was ultimately named the Patsy Price Scott poet for 2024, with his poem “Dragon Lore.”

Details on many of the Festival’s other activities and participants, such as the RACOON club, the Quilt Guild, Heritage Square and others will be included in later editions of the paper.

The winning poems are reprinted in this issue.