Scotland, Ct. Highland festival & Games

         PLEASE be advised that our parking areas are located in Hay and corn fields that have been harvested. Our volunteers do re-mow the corn stalks and hay fields as close to the ground as possible to make it easier to drive, park & walk through. That being said, the parking areas may still be a bit difficult to maneuver through if you are handicapped. We recommend using one of the shuttle buses or our handicapped parking area if you have a parking permit. 

              The 35th. annual Scotland Connecticut Highland Festival & Games will be held on   Sunday, October 8th, 2023. The location of our festival is at the Historic Waldo House, 96 Waldo Road, Scotland, CT 06264. 

             WE would like to encourage everyone to please follow all CDC guidelines, give yourself and others space. There is plenty of room and time for you to view all activities taking place throughout the day. 

              This festival supports many local businesses as well as offering Scholarships. The scholarships can be awarded to anyone who will be studying about Scotland  ( U.K.) while in a college, advanced studies, which includes BUT NOT limited to the study of or lessons for the Bagpipes, Harp, drums, Fiddle, singing, dance, history, etc. Scholarship applications are available to print off of this web site. Just click the "more" icon at the top of the page, this will take you to the scholarship applications.  

              Our committee that hosts this festival is a small one and we are NOT getting any younger. WE are asking all of you to PLEASE, PLEASE consider helping us with this festival. If you enjoy this festival as much as we do, take a moment and consider joining our committee.  

      We meet every third Monday at the Sprague Town Hall on the second floor. Meetings are NOT mandatory BUT we would love to see you at them in August, September & October so that we can all be on board as to the planning and set up. If you cannot attend the meeting BUT have any time the week prior to our festival, PLEASE come down to the grounds to help us set up.  If even for a few hours a day, any little bit will be greatly appreciated!!

               On this page we will bring you information about the bands who will be performing in the entertainment tent, Bagpipe bands that will be performing throughout the day on the performance field by the vendors, Information on the festival site, our Highland Games taking place in the field by the Dining Tent. Throughout the day there will be Scotch Highland Cattle on display just past the entertainment tent by the shuttle bus drop off/pick up location. Soay Sheep which are a breed of sheep from Scotland will be on display in the same area, as well as the Beautiful Gentle Giant Scottish breed of horse, the Clydesdale. There will also be sheep dog demonstrations throughout the day in the fenced in area by the Waldo House.  

              We are also honored to host our annual Harp demonstrations and competitions throughout the day in the Harp Tent over by the food trucks. 

             WE will be hosting a fiddle demonstration again this year to add to the array of Highland music that so many love.

            Fiddle Folks,       

        Our Scottish Festival in Scotland, CT is pleased to announce that this October 9th, for the first time in our 35 year history, we will be hosting Scottish fiddle events.    Malcolm Littlefield, of the Shoreline Fiddle Club, will lead the day with a workshop.  He’ll teach a tune or two while sharing his thoughts on Scottish rhythms, bowing, embellishments, phrasing and the different types of Scottish tunes.    Joined by cellist Ben Anderson, Malcolm will accompany a dance demo of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and perhaps some Ceilidh dancing with audience participation.    And we look forward to rounding out the day with an open session for all fiddlers of Scottish music and tunes with Scottish roots.    So please Save-The-Date and bring your fiddle, October 8th, 2023, for the Scotland, CT Highland Games.  Info will be posted at scotlandgames.org as the date draws nearer. Thanks to Bill Cournoyer for his forethought in bringing this demonstration and future contests to our festival.

            WE do offer handicapped parking and a shaded tent area to view the parade field. 

         PLEASE be advised that our parking areas are located in Hay and corn fields that have been harvested. Our volunteers do re-mow the corn stalks and hay fields as close to the ground as possible to make it easier to drive, park & walk through. That being said, the parking areas may still be a bit difficult to maneuver through if you are handicapped. We recommend using one of the shuttle buses or our handicapped parking area if you have a parking permit. 

        WE offer FREE shuttle bus services at two locations. One site is the paved parking lot at the Sayles School, 25 Scotland Road in Baltic, CT. Another site is the field across the street from the Scotland Volunteer Fire Department located at 47 Brook Road, Scotland, Ct.  

         Our committee members spend a LOT of their time preparing this site for this festival. Setting up the festival and taking it all down again takes up a couple weeks of our committee member's time.  

         We do ask that you PLEASE stay OFF of all of the stone walls that were made hundreds of years ago. Our festival grounds have some beautiful stone walls on the property. If a wall becomes damaged, it may cost us several hundreds of dollars to have just small bits repaired. 

            WE also NEED to state that NO ONE is allowed to bring any kind of a animal, pet or dog onto our grounds unless contracted by our committee to do so.  PLEASE do NOT leave any animal or person locked inside of any vehicle. This includes all of our shuttle bus properties, our parking areas and our festival grounds. If we find any animal is locked inside of a vehicle while the owner is away, we WILL contact the State Police. If you are found on the festival grounds with any animal, pet or dog you will be asked to leave the festival- NO refunds!  

        WE hate to do this but throughout the years we have found some people abusing this rule even though it has been posted on site, on our Facebook and web site, our printed literature and on our parking signs. Our insurance will not cover any animal on our grounds unless we have invited that animal to take part in our festival.       

        WE would like to thank everyone who has attended our festival and supported our cause of promoting Scotland (U.K. & the U.S.A.) as well as so many Scottish (U.K.)  traditions. We would like to say Thank You to all of our vendors selling all of their Scottish wares, foods, musical instruments, all of our Bagpipe Bands who will perform throughout the day, All of our Harp contestants, All musicians who are participating in our Fiddle demonstration and contests,  the Highland Dancers, all of the farms who have brought along their beautiful animals to show off here and of course all of the contestants in the Scottish Games . Without all of our volunteers, contestants, guests and this beautiful Waldo Homestead we would not be able to host this Festival, so THANK YOU to EVERYONE!!