The Los Angeles St. David’s Day Festival was an annual arts and cultural

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

held in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It typically took place during the first weekend of March, and attracted

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

ex-pats and Welsh descendants from all over the United States. Activities included

and other

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

, food and drink, Welsh language classes, cultural exhibits, Welsh authors, crafts, and children's activities. The festival was founded by

Lorin Morgan-Richards Lorin Morgan-Richards (born February 16, 1975) is an American author, illustrator, and songwriter, primarily known for his young adult fiction and Weird West series ''The Goodbye Family''. In the past, Richards served as the publisher of ''Celt ...

, produced by the Welsh League of Southern California, and was one of the largest Welsh festivals in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Past headling acts included

Siobhan Owen Siobhán Owen (born 4 October 1993) is a soprano and harpist from Adelaide, South Australia. Owen regularly performs at festivals, concerts and events around Australia and further abroad. She favours classical and Celtic/folk songs, but also ...

Meinir Gwilym Meinir Elin Gwilym (born 31 March 1983) is a Welsh-language pop and folk singer. Raised in Llangristiolus, Anglesey, she released her first EP, "Smôcs, Coffi a Fodca Rhad" (translates into English as "Smokes, Coffee and Cheap Vodka") in 2002. ...

, and

Poxy Boggards The Poxy Boggards are an American folk band based in Pasadena. The band was founded in 1994 by Stuart Venable and Bill Roper, and first performed that year at the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Since that time, they have achieve ...

History

The West Coast Eisteddfod, the first Welsh festival in Los Angeles since 1925, took place September 23–25, 2011, attracting over 2,000 attendees. The event was coordinated by A Raven Above Press and the Meriweather Lewis Memorial Eisteddfod Foundation. In December 2012, the Los Angeles Welsh Presbyterian Church, a major cultural landmark that served the Welsh community for over 100 years, closed its doors. With the success of the festival and untimely closure of the church, Lorin Morgan-Richards of A Raven Above Press began re-building the festival to ensure the Welsh community had a cultural presence. In 2013, coinciding with the Los Angeles St. David’s Day Festival, Richard Burton received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The induction, supported by a Western Mail campaign, included appearances by Michael Sheen, Ioan Gruffudd, and Richard Burton’s family. The 2013 event featuring

was captured on film in ''Do Ye the Little Things in Life: St. David's Day Festival-National Day of Wales 2013''. Following the 2014 event, Lorin Morgan-Richards called on active members of the community to form the Welsh League of Southern California to build on what had been achieved. While Richards stepped aside,

Peter Anthony Freeman Peter Anthony Freeman is a Welsh author, politician and storyteller. Career Freeman was heavily involved with the Welsh community in Los Angeles where he was President of the Welsh League of Southern California, won the Los Angeles Eisteddfod H ...

was elected President and spoke of the importance of the event: “The celebration of Saint David’s is more than commemorating the life of an ancient monk. This is a celebration and a reminder of where we come from. One of the greatest features of America is that it does not ask us to abandon our culture, rather we are asked to contribute our culture, so that the whole may become greater than the sum of the parts.” On October 10, 2015, the WLSC with involvement by

Marco Marenghi Marco Marenghi is a Welsh film animator/director who was born in Rhondda in Wales. He graduated from the University of Wales with an HNC in Electronics, and he worked for a microelectronics firm in Rhondda. He was laid off due to redundancy, an ...

held several meetups including their second

Gymanfa Ganu A Cymanfa Ganu (, ''Singing Festival''), is a Welsh festival of sacred hymns, sung with four part harmony by a congregation, usually under the direction of a choral director. The Cymanfa Ganu movement was launched in 1859 at Bethania Chapel in ...

at the Los Angeles Welsh Presbyterian Church featuring soprano Cherie Hill and poet Hilary Wyn Williams (mother of Thomas Dekker). The St. David's Day Festival meanwhile was held at the Mayflower Club in North Hollywood for both 2015 and 2016. In the fall of 2016, it was announced an informal breakup of the league as Peter Anthony Freeman resigned from his position to retire in Wales.

References

External links

Welsh League of Southern California
{{coord, 34.1864, -118.3726, type:event_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Music festivals in Los Angeles Welsh-American history Tourist attractions in Los Angeles Celtic music festivals Saint David's Day