The Scottish American Society of South Florida (SASSF) will sponsor the 37th Annual Southeast Florida Scottish Festival and Highland Games on March 7, 2020 at Plantation Heritage Park (1100 South Fig Tree Lane, Plantation, FL). The Festival runs from 9:00AM – 6:00PM with Main Stage entertainment to 7:00PM. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate. Children 6-14 are $3. Tickets include parking and park entry free. Advanced tickets available online at www.SASSF.org.
The Scottish Festival is an annual educational event, including a wide variety of Scottish cultural activities. This is coupled with a Highland Games, which comprises competitions in bagpiping, drumming, and Scottish athletics with participation by people of all ages, ethnicities and sexes and is not restricted to those of Scottish heritage.
Plantation Heritage Park, centrally located for residents of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, will be transformed into an exciting exhibition of Scottish culture with Pipe Band and Heavy Athletics competition, Scottish Country Dancing, Highland Dancing, Scottish rock and folk singing, fiddling, craft demonstrations, sheep dog trials, military reenactments, and Clan (family) & Society heritage displays. Scottish food, drink and merchandise will be on sale. An area of Children’s activities immerses them in Scottish culture through dress up, coloring, child appropriate athletics and a passport game that guides them around the heritage displays.
The Scottish Festival provides two performance stages, as well as featuring pipe band performances on the Main Field. The Main Stage hosts our headlining contemporary Celtic-Rock acts featuring traditional instruments such as the bagpipe, fiddle, and bodhran. The internationally recognized Celtic Rock band from Canada, The MudMen, will return as headliner for the 2020 Festival. The Piper Jones Band, a high-energy trio with bagpipe, bouzouki, and drums, perform both traditional songs and tunes from Scotland, Ireland, and Appalachia, as well as original compositions. They will also give presentations/demonstrations on the history of the bagpipe and Scottish step-dancing. The City of Dunedin Pipe Band, 2018 winner of the World Pipe Band Championship Grade Two Pipe Band and subsequently elevated in rank to the United States’ *only* Grade One Pipe Band, will also return as the host pipe band. The latter perform at the Main Stage and on the Main Field, as well as lead the Massed Bands and Clans Parade at the Welcome Ceremony.
The Heritage Stage offers performances of traditional Scottish songs and fiddle tunes by the MacLanzon Lassies, a local fiddle ensemble of sisters, as well as historical presentations by . Such acts provide historical context, providing background on the tunes, instruments, composers, and/or events related in songs adding to the educational enrichment of the listeners. Our Dance Pavilion will showcase Highland dances accompanied by bagpipe. Scottish Country Dance demonstrations, on which much of American Square/Contra Dancing is based, also take place in the Dance Pavilion with members from the local Scottish Country Dance Group based at the Sunrise Civic Center Theater. We will again have a “massed” ceilidh/party dance on the Main Field – inviting all to come onto the field to dance. We hope to top previous years’ participation of over 120 people dancing a simple Scottish circle dance of welcome.
Pipe & Drum competitions and performances take place throughout the Festival day with individuals competing in piping and drumming events, as well as pipe band competitions. A highlight of every Festival is the thrilling exhibition of massed pipe bands moving and performing in formation at the Welcome & Closing Ceremonies. In 2019 we had 11 pipe bands on the Main Field accompanied by members of over 24 Clans and Societies, making for an unforgettable spectacle. Four of the participating pipe bands are from the immediate South Florida area, with two based in Ft. Lauderdale, the Fort Lauderdale Highlanders and the Police Pipe & Drum Corps of Florida. All of the local bands provide instruction on the pipes and drums and welcome newcomers.
Storytelling comes alive in the Heritage tent and nearby historical encampments. Festival favorite Trixie Billings shares Scottish and Celtic myths, fairytales and history through vivid storytelling. A Living History encampment, featuring the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment re- enactment group, portrays the Regiment as it would have appeared in the 1760s-1790s. The 42nd will also provide demonstrations of historical military drill and how to put on the “Great Kilt” – the origin of the expression “the whole nine yards.” Gail Woodcum, demonstrates traditional handloom weaving nearby. The Pompano-based The Guild Urban Folk & Crafts School will return to will demonstrate forging, with craft displays of wood & leather carving, and soap making. Realms of History, a medieval re-enactment group, will demonstrate armored and rapier combat, along with craft displays. New in 2020, The Palm Beach Sword School, South Florida’s only school for Historical European Martial Arts [HEMA], will not only demonstrate historically accurate Scottish Broadsword & Targe fighting, they will offer “Have-a-Go” singlestick sessions for festival goers, participatory archery, and lecture presentations.
Our Clan ‘Village’ hosts Scottish-American representatives of various Scottish Clans displaying artifacts, books, posters, etc. on their respective Clan histories, while dressed in traditional Clan garb. Many clans offer assistance to those seeking to research their family history and potential connections to Scottish Clans.
Professionally trained Scottish Border Collie sheep [and duck!] herding demonstrations, provided by the Craigmalloch Border Collies are a perennial crowd favorite. Audience members are selected to assist and work with the dogs during a portion of the demonstration. Children and adults are welcome to visit with the collies and Scottish Blackface sheep when the latter are not performing.
Traditional Scottish “Heavy” athletic competitions, based in rural traditions, are conducted on a portion of the Main Field throughout the Festival Day. Athletic competition of both men and women athletes includes caber tossing, Braemar stone [Scottish shot put], tossing the sheaf, tossing and throwing the weight, and hammer throw. A local clinic for amateurs interested in trying our Scottish heavy athletics is held the day before the Festival. Our Festival athletes include Petrus Sundevall, 2nd in the 2017 World Masters of Highland Games, formerly of Sweden and now residing in Fort Lauderdale.
The Children’s Games area provides an immersive experience for children of all ages. The Children’s area features child-appropriate versions of the caber toss, sheaf toss, and stone toss and foot race, sack race, and tug-o-war competitions. A coloring canopy provides a restful activity in the shade, featuring Scottish scenes, characters, and animals to color, and a large world map letting children ‘find’ Scotland. We have Velcro try-on kilts and tartan sashes for kids of all sizes, and an old set of bagpipes children can hold and examine. Our Children’s Passport give children [and their accompanying adults] a reason to visit all of our Clans & Societies to get a ‘passport stamp’ from each, creating a keepsake takeaway and earning a prize and juice when they show as completed passport at our Membership Tent.
Finally, our vendor area features Scottish/Celtic artisan merchandise, such as pottery, jewelry, fabric arts, and leatherwork, including works by local and other Florida-based artisans. Traditional Scottish foods, including haggis, Scotch Pie, Scotch eggs, fish & chips, shortbread, clootie dumpling, and more are on offer, as well as foods from American and other cultural traditions. Soda, water, wine and beer, including Scottish ales, are also for sale.
The 37th Annual Scottish Festival & Highland Games has a full day of music, food, and fun on offer Saturday, March 7th, at the Plantation Heritage Park. Come on out for a wee taste of Scotland – without the jetlag. Be sure to bring your own ‘clan’ of family & friends! This is a rain or shine event.
