Upcoming Sessions:
“Every other Thursday” at Menace Brewery
6:00 – 8:00pm
**Unless otherwise specificed
2026:
Dec 24th – No Sing
Dec 18 – Carolling Party!
Dec 13 – Sunday Chorale at Jackalope
Dec 10 – Menace with Celtic Stories from Harper Stone
Nov 29 – Sunday Chorale at Jackalope
Nov 26 – No sing (Thanksgiving)
Nov 12 – El Capitan’s
Oct 29 – Menace
Nov 12 – El Capitan’s
Oct 29 – Menace
Oct 15 – Menace
Oct 1 – Menace
Sept 17 – Menace
Sept 3 – Menace
Aug 20 + Guest Crankie Artist Sue Trumann and Piper Aaron Malcolm
Aug 6 – Menace
July 23 – Back to menace – Guest Singer Mishon Kirkland
July 9 – contact for location (World Cup change of venue)
June 25 – contact for location (World Cup change of venue) – Guest Singer Peter Rothbart
June 11
May 28
May 14
Ethan and Owen poetic recitation
What’s This All About?
The Mighty Bards is a community singing group of 12-20 singers located in Bellingham, WA who meet every other Thursday at Menace Brewery
Join us for an evening of social pub singing – “chorus rich” songs led by song leaders with everyone joining in for the chorus with lyrical themes of land, sea, myth, legend, labour, trades, beer, whiskey, loss, love, war, peace, and much more. Genres covered – traditional Scottish, Welsh, English, Irish songs, sea shanties, and ballads, as well as some American civil war and union songs. Bring a song, share a song!
We’ve sung on the famous local Zodiac Schooner, the Mt. Vernon Celtic Arts Foundation, Bellingham Dockside Market, private parties, block parties, Bellingham Seafeast, Whatcom Museum and more! We have even had some honourable mentions in the local newspaper Casacadia Daily News – see here (fifth paragraph) and here (at the bottom) and in Blaine’s Northern Light paper – see here
How does it work?
It’s a “Pub Sing”, at Pub or “Public House”, as such it is “Public Sing”, so please feel free to join us. We are a village choir. The format is to have one person sing who has memorized the song or reads from book/sheet and sings the verses with the group joining in for the choruses. We encourage “chorus rich” songs, but others are welcome too. If they are leading a song you know, please only sing for the chorus unless the leader wants help with the verses. Note! This is a folk tradition, so some people sing the songs different. Pay attention to the leader if they are teaching/leading it in a new manner. Lastly, it is a vocal tradition, so it is voices only. No instruments, please. Sorry!
How did this all start?
Noting the ample traditional Irish tune sessions around Bellingham and the dearth of traditional singing sessions, Sky decided to take things into his own hands and start something. Beginning in the spring of 2023, he started with a monthly gathering at his house, which eventually led to meeting at the pub across the street and then to a few places around town till the bards landed, with the help of Steven Rystrom and the Devillies, at Menace Brewery in the Fountain District.
Inspired from the large 60+ people singing sessions at Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle and the Princeton Folk Festival, Sky wanted to bring that rich and enlivening experience to the regular life.
Sky now co-leads the regular pub sing with Steven Rystrom, front man for the local Irish American band The Devillies and Liam Weydert
Pub Singing examples:
Rocky Road to Dublin
Bully in the Alley