6th Annual Radford Highlands Festival Celebrates Enduring Scots-Irish Heritage

6th Annual Radford Highlands Festival Celebrates Enduring Scots-Irish Heritage

The annual Radford Highlanders Festival is on Saturday, October 13 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Radford University’s campus.

Radford University, in Southwest Virginia, proudly proclaims its Scots-Irish heritage, promoting the Highlander as the school mascot and the MacFarlane as its official tartan.

Festival activities this year include a parade with four pipe and drum bands, traditional amateur Scottish heavy athletic games (featuring such exciting events as the caber toss, commonly referred to as the telephone pole throw), a Scottish clan gathering, children’s activities, exhibitions of sheep herding using sheep dogs (they were integral to wool production in Scotland for centuries), a dance stage and various authentic Celtic music and arts and crafts.

Headlining bands include Enter the Haggis ( www.enterthehaggis.com ) from Canada and local favorites the Celtibillies. The festival also offers an on-site genealogist to help visitors get back to their roots. You can get into the spirit the night before the festival by attending an authentic scotch tasting, hosted by the City of Radford Arts and Events Commission, in downtown Radford.

There are many vestiges of the early settlers, called Ulster Scots or Scots-Irish, who migrated from Ulster Ireland, remaining in the region. Stories such as the Jack Tales and any tales of ghosts, witches or little people are directly linked, even if the setting is now Appalachia. Such crafts as basketmaking, woodworking and metalsmithing were brought directly from Scotland and Ireland, as well as the generations-passed-down art of whiskey making.

To learn more about the Radford Highlanders Festival, call (540) 831-5324, e-mail spas@radford.edu or visit www.radford.edu/festival.