Kilts, bagpipes, caber tosses and Scottish clans will be plentiful in Utah County this summer.
For the first time, the annual Scottish Festival and Highland Games will be held in Utah County at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. It is a new venue for the 30-year-old festival, which has traditionally been held in Salt Lake County.
The Utah Scottish Association is sponsoring the festival this weekend at Thanksgiving Point. Activities began Friday evening and continue through tonight. There will be more than 100 bagpipers and drummers, 40 Scottish clans with booths teaching about their clan's heritage, and many athletes participating in the caber toss and National Championship Sheaf Tosses today.
David Campbell, spokesman for the association, said its members are happy to finally have a home at Thanksgiving Point after changing locations from Murray to West Valley City in the past few years. He is hoping the new location will draw more people from Utah County to the festival, he said.
"We have a lot of people from the south end of the (Salt Lake) valley all ready and now we will be just over the hill -- it's quite a central location," he said. "We see ordinarily 5,000 people, but we are hoping for more. We are hoping to build it into something that is really big."
But Campbell said that does not mean the association is trying to compete with the other festivals. He thinks they will share patronage. Many of the same people are involved in both the Payson and the association's festivals, he said. And because it is not mandatory to be a Scot to attend, everyone in the county is welcome to come, he said.
"If you are not Scottish, we will make you Scottish when you get there," he said.
Donna Breckenridge, who teaches Scottish family history at Brigham Young University, said there were many people from Scotland who settled in Utah during the late 1800s. Though there were more settlers from Scandinavia and England, she said obviously the Scottish festivals have survived over the years compared to the other ethnic celebrations.
"There were not as many Scots, but those that were here made their presence known," she said. "Some ethnic groups just retain their traditions longer than others."
Mark Stotlar, president of the nonprofit Payson Scottish Festival Association, said he doesn't perceive any threat from the other festivals. The Payson festival is still looking for sponsors, and Stotlar said he has had trouble finding funding, but he does not attribute that to the other festivals.
Stotlar said the other celebrations draw from different crowds. The biggest difference is that the association's festival charges to attend and Payson's does not, except for food. Both of those festivals will have a booth at the others' to try and attract people to each other's events, Stotlar said.
But he did have concerns that Payson residents might think the festival had been moved to Lehi, so he has been e-mailing people and making calls to let people know the Payson festival is still on, he said.
"I have been worried that people might get confused," he said. "I want to make sure they know there is still one in Payson and we didn't move to the Point of the Mountain."
Besides the association and Payson, Highland is also starting to make the city's annual Highland Fling in August more geared toward Scottish heritage, Stotlar said. Last year, he helped coordinate Scottish games at the fling and will do the same this year. But even with the Highland festival, Stotlar does not believe there will be any competition for attendees.
"I think people will come out to all three," he said. "I don't believe we (the Payson festival) have people coming from the north end of the county. I am excited and the same people in our Scottish festival know people from the other festivals."
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.
For the first time, the annual Scottish Festival and Highland Games will be held in Utah County at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. It is a new venue for the 30-year-old festival, which has traditionally been held in Salt Lake County.
The Utah Scottish Association is sponsoring the festival this weekend at Thanksgiving Point. Activities began Friday evening and continue through tonight. There will be more than 100 bagpipers and drummers, 40 Scottish clans with booths teaching about their clan's heritage, and many athletes participating in the caber toss and National Championship Sheaf Tosses today.
David Campbell, spokesman for the association, said its members are happy to finally have a home at Thanksgiving Point after changing locations from Murray to West Valley City in the past few years. He is hoping the new location will draw more people from Utah County to the festival, he said.
"We have a lot of people from the south end of the (Salt Lake) valley all ready and now we will be just over the hill -- it's quite a central location," he said. "We see ordinarily 5,000 people, but we are hoping for more. We are hoping to build it into something that is really big."
But Campbell said that does not mean the association is trying to compete with the other festivals. He thinks they will share patronage. Many of the same people are involved in both the Payson and the association's festivals, he said. And because it is not mandatory to be a Scot to attend, everyone in the county is welcome to come, he said.
"If you are not Scottish, we will make you Scottish when you get there," he said.
Donna Breckenridge, who teaches Scottish family history at Brigham Young University, said there were many people from Scotland who settled in Utah during the late 1800s. Though there were more settlers from Scandinavia and England, she said obviously the Scottish festivals have survived over the years compared to the other ethnic celebrations.
"There were not as many Scots, but those that were here made their presence known," she said. "Some ethnic groups just retain their traditions longer than others."
Mark Stotlar, president of the nonprofit Payson Scottish Festival Association, said he doesn't perceive any threat from the other festivals. The Payson festival is still looking for sponsors, and Stotlar said he has had trouble finding funding, but he does not attribute that to the other festivals.
Stotlar said the other celebrations draw from different crowds. The biggest difference is that the association's festival charges to attend and Payson's does not, except for food. Both of those festivals will have a booth at the others' to try and attract people to each other's events, Stotlar said.
But he did have concerns that Payson residents might think the festival had been moved to Lehi, so he has been e-mailing people and making calls to let people know the Payson festival is still on, he said.
"I have been worried that people might get confused," he said. "I want to make sure they know there is still one in Payson and we didn't move to the Point of the Mountain."
Besides the association and Payson, Highland is also starting to make the city's annual Highland Fling in August more geared toward Scottish heritage, Stotlar said. Last year, he helped coordinate Scottish games at the fling and will do the same this year. But even with the Highland festival, Stotlar does not believe there will be any competition for attendees.
"I think people will come out to all three," he said. "I don't believe we (the Payson festival) have people coming from the north end of the county. I am excited and the same people in our Scottish festival know people from the other festivals."
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.
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