We had another lovely weekend – beautiful weather again – lots of sunshine, maybe a tad hotter than I prefer it, but I’m not complaining, it could’ve been much worse.
It was a timely weekend for a jaunt out west. Just western Massachusetts though, I’m not talking Idaho here……It was the annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival at Look Park in Florence, MA. Somehow I’ve never heard of this before last weekend, but I’m glad I happened upon the ad for it. I just love Scottish festivals. And although there’s nothing like attending one in Scotland (a regular habit for me when I lived there – I couldn’t get enough of them), this was a lot of fun.
Apparently, in 1753, a group of 50 Ulster Scot families headed west through the mostly unsettled countryside of Massachusetts, trekking for about 100 miles to settle in the rugged, hilly wilderness which they named ”Glasgow Lands”, or “New Glasgow”.
The region was later renamed Blandford by a colonial governor, and this was the site of the very first festival which was held back in 1994. It was supposed to just be a one-off event to raise money to restore an old church, but it was so well-received by Scots here in the north east that it has repeated every year since – continuing to benefit charitable organizations and programs annually.
Of course, there were kilts galore.
Gentlemen, if you’re single and want to be a hit with the ladies, I’d strongly recommend investing in one….guaranteed to draw a crowd.
But be sure to get the right shoes….
There was singing, Scottish style….
And music, Scottish style….
And more characters than I could even hope to capture with my camera!
Already I can’t wait until next year’s event!
I spent most of this weekend obsessing over pictures on my blog (an efriend got a take-down order and then some for mis-posting a picture). Which gives me a new appreciation for your library of wonderful images.
Like these.
Oh no, that’s a bummer, Jacqui. Hope you didn’t spend too much time worrying. It’s easy enough to obsess though…..
That looks like a lot of fun!
Did you find that it matched up to the festivals you attended in Scotland?
It was great! You know, it was “different” to the festivals held in Scotland – often they tend to have a theme – Highland Games, Agricultural Fairs, etc etc. Whereas this was an all-encompassing fair that didn’t have a specific focus, other than just plain old fun. I really enjoyed it though.
Oooh, I do love a man in a kilt!
Looks like a great day.