The Maine Celtic Celebration was founded eight years ago to honor “the rich Celtic heritage and culture found along the coast of Maine” by a group of volunteers. According to the event website, Belfast and the surrounding area was settled by Celtic people from Isle of Man, Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland and Brittany.

This very family oriented event will be held Friday, July 18, through Sunday, July 20, in downtown Belfast and at various waterfront venues. Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday, but the event relies on donations. Contributions help fund this year's celebration.

Musical highlights include these musicians: Ryan McGiver and Cillian Vallely, Open the Door For Three, William Coulter & Brian Finnegan, Michael Black, CÃ3ig, and others.

The Celtic Company, featuring dancers aged 4 and up from the Heather Morris School of Dance in Vermont will treat festival-goers to traditional dances. These include Celtic Step, Irish Step, Scottish Highland, National and Character dance.

What would a Celtic festival be without competitions? This Celtic Celebration has 'em all! Start out “easy” with The New World Cheese Roll Competition — that's right, a three pound roll of cheese is sent rolling down a steep hill followed by contestants aged 5 and up. Falling is a no-no. Cheese rolling dates back to the 1800s. Prizes you ask? I think you already know the answer to that, but here's a hint: bring some crackers.

The Highland Heavy Games date back to the 11 century, possibly earlier in the Scottish Highlands. The games played and rules of the Belfast 2014 games will be the same as those participated in and upheld through the centuries.

Check a couple of them out: The Caber Toss is probably the event best known to symbolize the Highland Heavy Games. In his or her hands, the athlete holds up and balances a long tapered pine poll, then runs forward and launches the caber and tries to flip it end over end the longest distance of any caber toss by competitors, relative to a straight “12 o'clock” path. The Scottish Hammer Throw is actually two events. A heavy metal ball is attached to a four-foot wooden shaft. With both feet in fixed position, the athlete whirls the hammer overhead and then tosses it forward in an attempt to reach a longer distance than any hammers thrown by competitors. (Paragraph taken directly from event website.)

Other games are the Open Stone Put, Heavy Weight Throw, and Weight Over the Bar, also known as Weight for Height.

If the heavy games are a bit too, well, heavy for you, sign up for Kilted Canter 5k Road Race (kilts optional). The application for the race is on event website.

The celebration also includes a Celtic breeds dog show and a fireworks display.

Vendors will be on hand selling food, beer, refreshments, Celtic gifts, pottery, Scottish small pipes, Highland bagpipes, signs, carvings, and many other souvenir goodies.

For more information, visit the event website: www.mainecelticcelebration.com, call 207-338-2692 or shoot an email to info@mainecelticcelebration.com.