For Charlie Zahm, the Celtic Festival at Old Westbury Gardens isn’t just another gig. It’s a yearly reunion of heritage, history and heartfelt music — and one he has been part of for nearly two decades.
The singer and guitarist, a fixture in the Mid-Atlantic’s folk and Celtic scene for more than 30 years, will return on Saturday, Aug. 23, to perform at the Long Island Celtic Festival and Highland Games.
The event, once known as the Scottish Games, blends athletics, music, dance and cultural traditions in a daylong celebration on the sweeping lawns of Old Westbury Gardens.
“I’ve been singing Scottish and Irish songs all of my life,” Zahm said. “The songs are beautiful on their own, but it’s the history behind them that makes the music come alive for people. When someone hears a song connected to their family’s past, it becomes personal.”
Zahm said many festivalgoers know the exact towns in Scotland or Ireland where their ancestors lived. If he can sing a tune from that area — or from the era when those relatives emigrated — it can be a powerful moment. “It lets them go home with a piece of history in their heart,” he said.
Raised in Florida, Zahm moved north after college, living first in New England before settling in the Mid-Atlantic. His dual degrees in journalism and history reflect his lifelong fascination with the past — a passion that fuels both his repertoire and his storytelling onstage.
“I’m a voracious history reader,” he said. “Oftentimes, the songs are history in four or five verses. Performing them with just a guitar feels organic because people have been singing them for hundreds of years.”
The connection between music and history is central to Zahm’s performances. He often shares the background of a song before playing it, explaining the events, people or places that inspired it. The subjects range from the Battle of Culloden in 1746 to the Irish famine of the mid-19th century, moments that shaped the migrations of Scots and Irish to America.
Few cultures, Zahm said, preserve their history in song quite like the Irish.
“It’s part of their DNA,” he said. “There are so many songs that reflect what happened and singing them keeps that memory alive.”
Zahm’s own family roots stretch to Scotland, Ireland and Canada. His mother’s side includes Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors from Limerick and Nova Scotia, while his father’s family traces Scots-Irish lines to Ulster.
One memory from the Long Island festival stands out in particular. A local family used to bring their elderly mother in a wheelchair each year to hear Zahm perform “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond,” a Scottish song tied to the aftermath of Culloden. The woman had loved the song since girlhood.
“I would take a moment and sing it just for her,” Zahm said. “Her son still lives in the area and whenever I sing that song, he weeps because it was his mother’s favorite. That’s the kind of connection music can make.”
At this year’s festival, Zahm will share the stage with acts including Harpers Ferry, McLean Avenue Band and Jesse Ofgang and the Diaspora. The program also features Highland Games athletic competitions, bagpipe and drum corps, traditional and modern dance, children’s entertainment, a Celtic marketplace and food vendors.
Old Westbury Gardens President and CEO Maura Brush said the event — now in its second year as the Long Island Celtic Festival — builds on the legacy of the Scottish Games.
“The music, the games, the food, the dancing, the sense of togetherness — it’s all here,” Brush said. “It’s been amazing to see the event continue to grow.”
For Zahm, the setting is part of the magic.
“What is a more beautiful place than Old Westbury Gardens?” he said. “It’s the perfect spot to share these songs and stories.”
The Long Island Celtic Festival runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 23. Early bird tickets, available through Aug. 22, are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $12 for youth ages 7–17. Children 6 and under are admitted free. Day-of admission is slightly higher. Tickets include access to Old Westbury Gardens.
Zahm’s public performance schedule is available on his website, www.charliezahm.com. In addition to concerts, he leads annual group tours to Scotland and performs at Celtic and folk festivals across the country.
Whether it’s a lively jig, a mournful ballad or a stirring anthem of resilience, Zahm said his goal remains the same: “to help people connect with their own history through song.”
More information about the festival is at www.oldwestburygardens.org/celtic-festival.
