Taste of Scotland Festival in Franklin, NC

Scotland Rules in the Smokies!!!


Friday Night Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee means party!)

Food and Entertainment at the Big Bear Shelter on the Greenway.

5.00pm...Bagpipe Music with Jean Hayes


6.00pm...BBQ & Music by Patton Valley Strings


6.45pm...Performance by Kula & Truen


Symposiums

— Friday, June 15, 5 p.m. - “So You Want to Play the Bagpipes” Speaker: Piper Jean Hayes.

Jean Hayes is the official piper for the Tartans Museum. She pipes on Fridays throughout the summer for parades and events at the museum and competes at the Grandfather Mountain Games where she has won medals in Celtic harp. She will discuss the history of the bagpipes, demonstrate piping techniques and illustrate with familiar musical selections.

This seminar precedes the barbecue dinner at 6 p.m. and Ceilidh at the Big Bear Park and Playground at the Greenway on US 441 Business in Franklin.

— Saturday. June 16, - 1:30 p.m. “Why People Migrate”

Speaker: Dr. Scott Philyaw.

Director of the Mountain Heritage Center and Professor of History at Western Carolina University. Dr. Philyaw will present the motivating philosophy of why people change location, a practice that has been the precursor in creating the world’s great cultures. It also helps us understand why Celtic people, and the Scots-Irish in particular, immigrated to America and found a homeland in the states along the Appalachian chain.

This seminar will take place in the assembly room at the Burrell Building across from the Museum.

— 3 p.m. “Scottish Traders and the Cherokee” Speaker: Bill Dyar.

Bill Dyar is a retired educator in the Macon County Schools and advisor to the National Champion Dance Team of the Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts of America. Dyar is devoted to the understanding of Indian culture and Cherokee culture in particular. He wears authentic Cherokee costuming and brings many artifacts to his presentation. He discusses the effectiveness of the Scottish traders among the native villages in Western North Carolina in the 18th century.

— Sunday. June 17, 1:30 p.m. “The Montgomery Tour” Walter Taylor and Carl McSween.

Both men are historians with the Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center. They will host a bus tour south (15 miles) to the Little Tennessee Basin where Col. Montgomery and his British forces (using Scottish regiments) attempted to rout the Cherokee and burn their villages in the 18th century. The skirmishes are audibly recreated at various points along the tour with demonstrations of powder musket techniques and bagpiping. The tour ends at the Nikwasi Indian Mound, Historic Site in Franklin, where the Council House of the Middle Towns of the Cherokee stood.

Tickets must be purchased at the Tartans Museum before it closes on Saturday. Passengers will be picked up at (1) the Franklin Presbyterian Church at 1:15 and also (2) at the Museum at 1:30.

For more information about the seminars, contact the Scottish Museum at (828)524-7472 or mike swift at eswift@ dnet.net.

Children’s Games

Children visiting the “Taste of Scotland” on Saturday will find activities planned for them in the children’s area behind the Burrell Building. Following each presentation of the sheep-herding, Scottish Games for the young people will be available, like pitching hay, tossing the caber (tubes from carpet rolls), and participating in tug of war and short track events. Participants’ ribbons will be awarded for each child taking part.

The Arts Council, headed by Director Bobbie Contino and her staff will help the children with Celtic crafts, such as making their own family crest and designing jewelry. A face painter will be available to paint their faces “Pictish Blue,” as Scots did before battle in the early days of the Dalriada.

Boy Scout Troop 202 will be assisting in the competitive events.

Border Collie Demonstrations

Border Collie Demonstrations will be held at the Taste of Scotland behind the Burrell Building on Saturday, June 16. Visitors will be able to watch the dogs work, to visit the animals and talk to the trainer, Bill Coburn of Windy Knoll Farms, in Laurens, SC.

Spectators will be able to hear the shepherd’s voice commands such as “stand”, “way to me” (go right), “come by” (go left), “lay down” and “that’ll do.” To work the dogs at a distance, these commands are translated into whistles. The program lasts about a half hour and will be repeated several times during the day. Check the program for times.

For more information, please visit The Scottish Tartans Museum website.


I'll be there, and hope to have some photos and video available tomorrow and Monday.