June e-Newsletter
This is the newsletter of the Scottish Tartans Museum. This mailing
is sent out once a month to subscribers. To add yourself
to our mailing list, please send a blank email message to:
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It's almost time! The ninth annual Taste of Scotland
festival is nearly upon us. Please mark your calendars and plan to
come to Franklin this June 17-19.
Here is a run down of what is going on when.
On Friday, June 17, there will be various activities to
participate in for those who will be arriving a day early for the festival.
The main activity is a Scottish Golf Tournament, sponsored by the Friends
of the Scottish Tartans Museum, at the Mill Creek Country Club.
Registration begins at 7:30am with a continental breakfast, and the tournament
begins at 9:00. A box lunch is provided. There will be prizes,
surprises, and raffles. The fee is $65 per player, and a two-person team
is required to register. This includes green and cart fees, breakfast,
snack, and lunch. You need to register no later than June 10! For
more information, call Sue Ann McMaster at (828)349-1501.
For those of you non-golfers, there will be other activities to
participate in during the day. The first of which is the guided bus
tour of the Cherokee-Highlanders battle grounds in Macon County, south of
Franklin. In 1760 Col. Archibald Montgomerie led his band of Highland (and
Lowland) Scottish troops into battle against the Cherokee people. Local
historians Walter Taylor and Carl McSween will lead interested people through
the ins and outs of that conflict, visiting many of the battle sites of the
campaign. The tour begins at the Scottish Tartans Museum at 10:00am.
Pre-registration is requested.
Also on Friday we will have speakers giving presentations in the
afternoon on various aspects of Scottish culture from 2:00 until 5:00.
Speakers scheduled so far include Marjorie Logie Warren of Thistle
Studio, a hand weaver of Scottish tartans. She will be speaking on the
Kilbarchan Project, a weaving project reconstructing the fabric produced in
the Scottish village of Kilbarchan in the nineteenth century. Robert
Kimsey, past principal of the NC School of the Arts, and international
traveler, will give a presentation entitled "How the Scots Invented
Everything!"
Friday's activities will culminate with a banquet held at Mill
Creek Country Club at 7:00pm. Entertainment will be provided by
Scottish singer Eric
Duncan. The menu is to include roasted pork loin, chicken marsala,
salad bar, fresh vegetables, marched potatoes, rolls, dessert, tea and coffee.
A cash bar will also be available. Tickets for the banquet are $30 and
must be reserved before June 10.
Saturday, June 18, is the day of the Taste of Scotland
festival itself. This is our ninth year running of this annual
Scottish celebration along Main Street in downtown Franklin. Vendors,
crafters, food, games, and demonstrators will be set up all along Main Street,
with different entertainment on stage every half an hour from 9:00 until 4:00.
We will have pipe bands, Scottish dancers, border collie demonstrations, and
songs from both Eric Duncan and, for the first time ever in Franklin, the Celtic
band Isla! Isla is a band based in Nashville, TN, and is widely
renowned celtic group whose musical influences include those of Eastern Europe,
Medieval England, and Southern Appalachia as well as Scotland and Ireland.
They should put on quite a show and we are glad to welcome them to the Taste of
Scotland.
Our
honored guests this year will be Barry Harden, the Baron of Cowdenknowes,
and his son, Mark, younger of Cowdenknowes. The region of Cowdenknowes is just
south of Earlston in the Scottish Borders. It was immortalized in the old
Scottish Folksong "The Broome o' the Cowdenknowes." For more information
on our honored guests, see their web site at:
www.cowdenknowes.com.
As always, admission to Saturday's festival is absolutely
FREE!
There will also be a Ceilidh Saturday evening immediately
following the festival. As soon as things wind up, the various
entertainers for the day will congregate at Rathskellar Coffee Haus (behind
Books Unlimited on Main Street) for an evening of song, dance, food and fun.
Sunday, June 19, the First Presbyterian Church of Franklin, NC,
will hold their annual Kirkin of the Tartans ceremony at 10:30am.
All are welcome. For more information, please contact the First
Presbyterian Church at (828)524-3119.
The Scottish Tartans Museum will be open from 10:00 to 5:00 on
Friday, June 17, and from 9:00 to 5:00 on Saturday, June 18. We will be
closed on Sunday, June 19. Please come by, have a great time, and bring
plenty of Scottish enthusiasm with you! We hope to see you there!
