Event organizers are expecting record numbers of attendees at this year’s festival, which runs the weekends of Jan. 30-31 and Feb. 5-7. The event will feature more entertainment offerings including performances from the band Albannach, the introduction of acrobatic performer “Daniel Duke of Danger” and continued involvement by local renaissance fair troupe, the Thieves Guilde.

Last year’s attendance was about 48,000 and organizers are hoping that the event will reach 50,000 this year.

Albannach, a Scottish band that plays Celtic music will be performing both weekends of the festival.

Dan Looker, known as “Daniel Duke of Danger,” will also be added to this year’s entertainment schedule. According to his Web site dukeofdanger.com, Looker is a graduate of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and has been performing a tour of renaissance festivals since 1993.

Hutchinson said of Looker, “He’s a real pro from the ren-faire circuit. He does all kinds of acrobatics and things and it’s just very fun and funny.”

Aside from the new acts, many of the performers from last year’s event will be back.

“When we get something that really works, we hold on to it,” he said. “Because these people helped us build this show, a lot of them, we don’t fire them to bring in someone new.”

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Ireland, Scotland, Cape Breton — the Boston area has long been a place where these Celtic traditions not only flourish on their own but meet each other. All that is celebrated in the Boston Celtic Music Festival, coming up this year on January 8 and 9. Two events on the Friday kick things off, a concert at the historic Club Passim in Harvard Square, and the Boston Urban Ceilidh, a sort of Celtic dance meets mosh pit high energy fling that’s become a legendary evening of fun, held this year at Springstep in Medford Square.

The ceilidh will still be going when the concert’s done, so no need to choose if you’d like to check out both. The festival continues on January 9 with day time performances and workshops at four stages located in Club Passim and at nearby First Church of Cambridge. First Church will also host the BCMFest Finale Concert on Saturday night, which will include performances by Irish singers and players the Makem and Spain Brothers and Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser.

Over its six year history, BCMFest has emphasized differing themes, ranging from music about the Boston area to Celtic dance to rising young musicians. This year, core traditions is the central idea. In keeping with that, at the Boston Urban Ceilidh one of acts will be a special one-of-its-kind ensemble that will recreate the classic Dudley Street Boston Irish Dance Hall Era from the 1930s to 1950s — and you can also expect Scottish fiddle meets rock from Laura Cortese and friends. Both of those, in a way, are quite in keeping with the core tradtions of how Celtic music grows and changes.

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