The Penticton Scottish Festival is giving a Celtic thank you to the community’s COVID-19 first responders, and the public is invited too.

The festival is inviting honoured guests from Penticton and the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen’s ambulance service, fire departments, hospital, Indigenous Health Departments, Interior Health and RCMP to have first priority for the tickets to the March 11 concert.

Members of the community can also register for the free tickets after they’re distributed to any first responders. To register, you can go to www.pentictonscottishfestival.ca/play-it-forward.

Tickets will begin being distributed after Feb. 28.

The concert features a range of Penticton Scottish Festival favourites and some newer faces.

Kelowna Celtic folk-rock band The Malarkeys will be one of the groups performing at the concert, with multiple albums of familiar favourites and original songs and performances across the Okanagan and beyond, including Vancouver’s CelticFest.

READ MORE: PHOTOS: Scottish Festival brings Highland games and dancing to Penticton

The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, six-time world champions who have performed in filled venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and the Sydney Opera House, will also be taking the stage.

Scottish Festival mainstays of the Emily MacDonald School of Highland Dance, the Vale United Pipe Band, Castilla Irish Dance School and High Water Drum Group round out the lineup.

There will also be a cash bar and donation baskets at the concert, with all of the funds raised going to support Honour Ranch, where members of the Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans, Emergency Services Personnel, and their families can discover strategies in the treatment of operational stress injuries including anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

Heritage Canada and the Government of Canada provided financial support to the festival, which allowed them to make it free for the community.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.