Cape Breton welcomes return of Celtic Colours International Festival

The Celtic Colours International Festival returned in-person over the Thanksgiving weekend and with that, one of Monday's shows saw a full house on Eskasoni First Nation.

"I’m playing here in a Mi’kmaq community, and it’s always been a dream of mine to play here in Eskasoni First Nation," said Morgan Toney, a fiddler from Wagmatcook First Nation.

Along with being one of the day’s biggest attractions, part of Toney’s performance paid tribute to Mi'kmaw fiddler Mooney Francis, who died in September.

"He's been an influence on the entire Mi'kmaq Nation with his style and his fiddling," Toney said. "All the tunes that he's played, he's definitely a pioneer."

The holiday show included a special presentation of a plaque to Francis's family.

While the festival is just now bouncing back from post-tropical storm Fiona, George Paul, from the Celtic Colours board of directors, recalls how Mooney Francis helped during the Thanksgiving 2016 flood.

"All our guests were stranded," Paul said. "So Mooney and Vincent Joe, they wound up playing another two hours just to entertain the people. That's the type of person Mooney was."

After the COVID-19 pandemic and Fiona, the festivals comeback benefitted the islands fall tourism.

"Its multi-million dollars really, that it injects into our visitor economy," said Destination Cape Breton CEO Terry Smith. "For all of our hotels, restaurants, this would be very similar to what it would be like in peak season in summer."

While damage from Fiona sparked concerns over the possibility of cancelling the festival, organizers were quick to announce the show would go on.

"Even in Neil's Harbour, where they sustained so much damage, they have been able to continue on and be part of the festival," Smith said. "That's just a signal of the resilience that we have here on the Island."

The 2022 Celtic Colours International Festival wraps up Oct. 15.