Rain washes out some Celtic Festival activities after biggest Saturday yet

They were joined in chorus by fiddles, violins and cellos as traditionally dressed dancers amazed crowds, and low grey clouds hung ominously adding a twang of authenticity.

Unfortunately those same clouds opened up with some heavy rains on Saturday night, meaning a relocation or unfortunate cancellation for a number of events on the second day of the Festival.

The dampening stung a little more for organisers this year after pundits had seen possibly the biggest crowd yet for the annual festivities on Saturday.

Masses of market stalls encircled the standing stones and dotted the outskirts of the festival grounds.

A mix of aromas swirled through the air from coffee vans to loaded fries, pulled pork rolls and burgers. There was also whiskey and gin tastings for those craving a little extra flavour in the day.

Haggis burgers were likely the closest thing to traditional, but an array of flame-grilled goodies pleased the masses.

Armidale's NEMAS group re-enacted medieval combat and just beyond that, Highland Muscle headed up the Highland Games where stone and caber toss events wowed a strong crowd of onlookers.

There was even fully-armoured knights jousting on the grounds.

Local and visiting dance troupes were dressed to the nines as they performed either traditional or modern interpretive dances on one of the stages.

The standing stones serving as a centralised staging area for some of the festival's keynote addresses and formalities.