Donald Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE Aug. 22 2018
The Shawville Fair is chock full of world-class entertainment this year, but there’s nothing quite like one performance, all set for Sunday afternoon.
Lakefield, Ont.’s Next Generation Leahy will be literally filling up the main stage on Sunday, as the whole family brings their Celtic-inspired show to town, complete with all the appropriate instruments.
Speaking with Doug Leahy, patriarch to the performing family, he’s amazed at just how much his children have taken to it.
“We started three years ago, and we were doing a fair bit in the show, my wife and I,” said Doug. “Now we’re not and the love of music really shows in our kids, and they really feed off the audience. They are leading the way now. My wife and I don’t play in very many numbers anymore and that’s great.”
This performance is an all-in-the-family routine, as in all members come from the same immediate family. Like Doug said, there was a time when he and his wife, Jennifer, had to hold the reins of their show, but that’s passed as their children have grown more comfortable in the driver’s seat.

Six children make up the performers, all excelling at a variety of musical talents. The oldest, Adele, is only 16, and she’s joined by her younger siblings Gregory, 15, Angus, 13, Cecilia, 11, Joseph, 10, and Evelyn, 8.
All six can play the fiddle, step dance and sing, with the older children taking up duties on instruments from drums and accordion through to ukulele, bass and mandolin.
While most parents would have a hard time imagining getting their child to stay interested very long in playing just one instrument, Doug said much of his children’s obsession with music is homegrown, as they’ve always been regularly exposed to it.
“They are surrounded by it from a young age, they have many cousins, aunts and uncles that play music and at a very young age you see music in them and it’s something they want to do,” said Doug.
Still, it takes more than regular exposure to cultivate real talent with a wide arrangement of instruments, especially amongst so many musicians. Doug said the thrill of travelling about, of sharing their talent and proving how great they can perform, plays very much into their success.
“To be able to come to different places, such as Shawville … that’s the exciting part for them,” said Doug. “Practicing doesn’t become a chore anymore, they want to practice, they want to try new things and it becomes very exciting to then deliver it in the show.”
Doug also added that the group gets a real thrill out of performing for rural areas, as the audience is generally more in tune with what their music is about.
“In the smaller communities, where there’s an agricultural presence, a lot of people in the country grow up with roots music involved somewhere,” he said. “Whether it’s fiddle or accordion, or all of them, they understand what we do, they get it. It always makes for a great show when your audience understands what you’re doing.”
Finally, for those who look at the Leahy bunch and think it’s aimed at a young demographic, Doug is very clear on what his kids are capable of.
“Our oldest daughter is only 16-years-old, and sometimes people think it’s going to be a kids’ show and once they see it, then they understand that it’s a world-class thing,” he said. “It’s really incredible what they’re able to do at such a young age and to see the joy in them when they get to perform together. That’s kind of one of those things you just have to see it.”
Next Generation Leahy will be playing the main stage on Sunday afternoon, right at 4 p.m. Come prepared to clap and toe tap along with the whole family.