Guest Contributor
HIAWASSEE – For years now the Scots have gathered in the North Georgia Mountains, bringing Highland dancers, Highland Games athletes, family clans, bagpipers, drummers, and traditional musicians who come to celebrate their heritage.
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This year brings an exciting chapter to the Festival with a name change, to encompass all of the North Georgia region and a much larger facility with lots more parking. The Festival’s history is filled with wonderful memories, and many thanks to those who have been a part of it over the years.
The Georgia Mountain Scottish Festival & Highland Games will be held at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawassee, beginning with a free Ceilidh or party with food trucks opening at 5 p.m. and the party starting at 6 p.m. on June 6 at the beautiful Hamilton Gardens inside the fairgrounds.
The Festival itself runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 7th and 8th. A truly amazing sight to see is the Opening Ceremony at 12 noon on Saturday, with the massed highland bands and parade of tartans and athletes.
Admission is $20 on Saturday and $10 on Sunday, or $25 for both days. Children 7-12 are $5, and children 6 and under get in free. Everything other than food and souvenirs is included in the admission price. Parking continues to be free. This is a bargain compared to other Scottish Festivals of comparable size!
Even if you don’t know your family’s lineage or have little or no Scottish ties, you’re invited to come experience Scotland without the need of a passport or international flight across the ocean. Forty-four clans (family units) will be waiting for you to bring your family names to find your lineage and tie you to the land of the Scots.
A first for the Festival: two pubs, Rusty Kilt and St. Andrews, will have a variety of offerings, and Hightower Vineyard will be supplying Mead inside the fairgrounds for purchase.
For the first time in 20 years, Athletics will have the space to bring a full competition, with nine events at the Highland Games, including the caber toss (telephone pole), heavy and light hammer throw, open stone and Braemer stone throw. Seventy-five athletes who train year-round will be tossing the caber and putting the stones beginning at 9 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Men and women athletes come to earn points to rise to the top!
From the Scottish athletes to two different types of Scottish dancing, four Celtic bands to a pipe-band contest at 2 p.m. on Saturday, there is sure to be something to excite everyone in the family!
The Highland ponies will be coming to the Festival for the first time. Returning are traditional sheep-herding with the Border Collies, Highland coos (cows) and birds of prey used for hunting along with the black faced sheep. The 11 demonstrators also include a fierce bowyer who makes longbows, to two sturdy blacksmiths in the forge. Historical re-enactors Clann Nan Con will be camped on the lake while the Spinners & Weavers will be in the Pioneer Village.
Wee lads and lassies are encouraged to attend as well! Special activities for the children include the “Passport to the Clans” activity, where children visit clan tents and learn about each different family’s history. Once their Passport is full, they can return to the Children’s Area to select a prize!
There is also face-painting, mini-golf, a coloring station, and a bouncy-castle (all activities included in admission). Adventurous kids can even try out some of the Highland Games, scaled down to child-size.
The “real” Scottish princess Merida from the Pixar film “Brave,” provided by Enchanted Events, will be greeting children from 1-3 p.m. on both days of the festival.
As you’re planning your family trip, please remember that children in the Children’s Area are required to be supervised by a family member at all times. Unaccompanied children will be given a caffeine rich Irn-Bru soda and a caber to toss!
For our most wee of wee bairns (and for the comfort of their mothers), also available in the Children’s Area is a “Quiet Tent” with a changing table. This comfortable spot is ideal for parents with infants if any privacy is needed for nursing, napping or diapering.
What is a Festival without shopping? Many favorite vendors with traditional Scottish wares, clothing and food are returning, plus new merchants who are making their first trek to the Georgia Mountain Scottish Festival & Highland Games. There will be jewelry, sporrans, kilts, T-shirts, musical instruments, home decor and many more Scottish items available for purchase.
The Scottish Festival’s new home allows 15 different food vendors to offer delicious Scottish food including scotch eggs, Shepherd’s pie, fish & chips, whiskey brisket, traditional and vegetarian haggis, and the traditional meat pies and bakery items. For those with less adventurous taste buds, we have American food such as barbecue, hamburgers, chicken tenders, funnel cakes, etc.
Kicking off the weekend we are having a free traditional Scottish Ceilidh or party on Friday, with the food trucks opening at 5 p.m. and the party starting at 6 p.m. While it is hard to spell, it’s easy to say – kay-lee – and it will offer Celtic entertainment, pipes and drums, a sing-along, an athletic presentation, poetry reading, and traditional Celtic storytelling, all free at Hamilton Gardens in Hiawassee on June 6.
Transportation for those less mobile will be available inside the park, and the trolley will be running in the car park (parking lot).
Come join in the fun at the Georgia Mountain Scottish Festival & Highland Games! There are still volunteer positions available for Sunday in three-hour shifts. Volunteers receive free admission to the Festival!
Heed the call of the pipes and the drums, grab your kilt, come to the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds on June 6th, 7th and 8th, and try being Scottish for a weekend!
Find out more at https://gamtnscottishfestival.org. Follow the Georgia Mountain Scottish Festival & Highland Games on Facebook and on Instagram @gamountainscottishfestival.
