Scots Festival

I've gone to the Scots Festival a few times and have always enjoyed myself. This time I wanted to take Brian so he could experience the festival. If you don't know what it is, here's a quick description. 

The 27th annual ScotsFestival & International Highland Games. Experience the rich culture and history of Scotland first hand through an array of authentic activities, athletics, dancing, entertainment, and cuisine, paying homage to the Queen Mary’s Scottish legacy. Eighty-nine years ago, in the quaint seaside town of Clydebank, Scotland, construction began on the Queen Mary. Exemplifying the finest craftsmanship of the country, the Queen Mary’s heritage is celebrated throughout the two-day festival honoring Scottish culture and nearly fifty clans and vendors.

Throughout the weekend, guests can witness professional and amateur competitions in piping, drumming, massed bands, darts, Highland dancing, and Highland athletics: the all-new North American Light Weight Women’s Championship and the North American Professional Male Championship. Whisky tasting sessions with aged malt experts are available for adult festival goers while the laddies & lassies can bear witness to Queen Mary’s coronation and knighting ceremonies, and even take part in the Wee Highland Games. With falconry, sheep herding, axe-throwing and archery, guests will have culture at every turn!

We went on Sunday and got there around noon, the place was packed and we were redirected to a near by parking structure. Once there we got in a long line to get on a bus to take us to the Queen Mary and Scots Festival. While we were in line I noticed that folks across the street were grabbing Ubers so I looked up the cost and it was like seven bucks at the same time I heard the couple behind us comment about an Uber so I suggested that we Uber together and split the cost.. so we did.

We finally got to the event around 1pm and had five hours to try and see everything. I always enjoy going to new places with Brian, I love watching him experience everything. He kind of just stands there with a big smile on his face and takes it all in, this was no different. Once he did that we wandered over to a stage where people were dancing and then I saw numbers on them and figured it was a dancing contest.

We then watched a bit of the Highland games before wandering over to the booths where they were selling all sorts of cool items. If I had unlimited funds I would have bought so many things. We strolled through the shops playing with swords and trying on hats. We watched a bit more of the Highland Games then we grabbed a favorite of mine Welch Cakes, I discovered these a few years back when I first visited the ScotsFestival. I introduced Brian to them at last years RenFaire, this time around we had them with lemon curd and clotted cream.

Things Brian never had were a meat pie and a scotch egg. I've had both in England and they were far superior to what we got here, but they were okay. We finished out day by watching more the Highland Games. Around 5:30 we decided to go back to the booths to buy things that we had saw earlier, I second guessed everything I was going to buy and got nothing while Brian made two purchases. I was close to getting this amazing winged Helmet but it was $160 and I couldn't figure out when I would wear it.

The place closed at 6pm so we decided to leave a little early to avoid the crowds. We opted to walk back to the parking structure instead of Ubering it, there was lots of traffic all over. It was a nice walk (about 30 minutes.)

Over all it was a fun visit to the Scots Festival. Brian seemed to have a good time. Will probably do it again next year when it comes back around.