Palmerton resident Beth Ritter-Guth is leading a piper flash mob at 3 p.m. Saturday at Donegal Square in Bethlehem to help launch a new festival that carries on the traditions of the beloved Celtic Classic, which was held annually in September.

Following a 39-year run, the Celtic Classic Festival, operated by the Celtic Cultural Alliance, announced it was shutting down. In an Oct. 28 press release, the board of directors cited bad weather, shifting consumer spending habits, rising operating costs, and lingering post-pandemic pressures as the reasons for shuttering its doors. They noted, however, that attendance had remained strong right through the end.

Neville Gardiner, owner of Bethlehem’s Donegal Square and the Red Stag Pub, alongside Jim Foley, two of the festival’s original founders, have stepped up to bring a replacement event to life.

Foley proposed hosting a “Finnegan’s Wake” gathering and fundraiser to raise the resources needed to establish a new nonprofit and secure the Celtic festival’s future. They recruited Ritter-Guth to help organize the pipers.

“The festival has been part of our family for over 40 years,” Ritter-Guth said. “My Mom, Karen Ritter, answered an ad in the newspaper in 1987 recruiting volunteers and committee members for the first festival to be held in 1988, and she organized the first Clans and Societies area for that very first festival.”

Both Ritter-Guth and her brother, Paul Ritter III of Bethlehem, are both bagpipers who played in the duty band back in 1988, the Lehigh Valley Pipe Band, led by Scot Walker. Today, Ritter-Guth continues that family tradition performing with Celtic United Pipes and Drums, led by Pipe Major Gene Kutzler and Drum Major Steve LaBadie.

While turnout numbers for the upcoming flash mob remain unconfirmed, Ritter-Guth is optimistic. “I was afraid no one would come,” she said. “But given the incredible positive response, now I’m just hoping everyone can find parking!”

Ritter-Guth encourages everyone to come out and support the event. “The more people show up, the more confident sponsors and donors will feel about the future of a Celtic Festival in Bethlehem.”