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Date: 7/13/2022
NORTHAMPTON – After a brief hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival is returning for its 27th year at Look Memorial Park on July 16.
According to Peter Langmore, the chairman of the festival committee, this is the only Scottish festival in Massachusetts and the second largest one in New England. Despite losing a couple of years due to COVID-19. Langmore said the interest is still “quite high” for the festival.
Upon arriving, visitors should once again expect a number of dancers, entertainment, food, vendors, a full slate of athletes, and clans where people can learn more about the Scottish culture. As of press time, and according to the Scottish Festival website, there are well over 20 clans that will be represented this year.
“We’re excited to be back in full swing,” Langmore told Reminder Publishing. “This year, we’re doing something that we’ve never done before, and that’s whiskey tasting.”
According to the Scottish Festival Facebook page, Four Seasons Wine & Liquor in Hadley will sponsor the whiskey tasting event, and there will be “three tasting sessions” – 12:30, 1:30 and 3 p.m. The venue for this event will be conducted behind the old snack shop on the terrace. Langmore also told Reminder Publishing that the festival will have a full field of bands and pipers, as well as a snare drum competition, where a multi-world champion snare drummer will be featured.
Additionally, there will be new vendors introduced including, Vlad’s Fired Pizza, Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee and Highland Ledge Farm. There will also be myriad other food and merchant vendors that people can check out on the website.
As far as entertainment goes, Langmore said that Canadian Celtic rock bands Enter the Haggis and Albannach will be performing on the main stage, along with Sarah the Fiddler and House of Hamill.
The festival will also feature many children’s activities including, rope pull, face painting, caber toss, haggis toss, and sack races, a water spray park, train rides and weaving.
“This festival is so well-received by everybody,” said Langmore. “People who’ve been to this festival, they love it … they love the venue; they love the whole atmosphere.”
According to Langmore, the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote the Scottish culture, to raise funds toward local non-profit organizations and to award Scottish cultural scholarships for Highland dancing and piping.
The two main organizations the festival donates to are ForumHouse in Westfield, which is an employment and recovery center, as well as River Valley Counseling in Holyoke.
“It’s been a long haul since 2019,” said Langmore. “We’re a small committee, but we manage to put on a good festival.”
The festival will begin at 9 a.m., and the opening ceremony is at 11:30 a.m., while the closing ceremony is at 5:30 p.m. There will be entertainment, however, until 9:30 p.m. Langmore described the ceremonies as “moving” experiences, where all the pipers and drummers come out to march together and play anthemic songs.
Tickets for the festival are available online or at the gate. To learn more about what to expect at the festival, as well as how much tickets are, visit the Scottish Festival website at https://www.glasgowlands.org.