The South Carolina State Museum’s Tartan Fest event will have guests seeing green. Putting greens, that is.
On Saturday, April 14, the annual celebration of Scottish heritage will highlight the history of golf in addition to featuring games, dancing, music and more.
“Since the nation’s first golf club and course is said to have been developed in Charleston and with the game having its roots in Scotland, golf is a great subject for Tartan Fest,” says Ashley Lowrimore, public programs manager. “Many new activities are centered on the golf theme.”
Golf activities include a putting game for kids and a virtual golf experience for adults. Also, a small exhibit of golf –related artifacts will be featured on the mezzanine and PGA life member Robin All, six-time city senior pro champion and master golf instructor, will speak on the history of golf and its connections with Scotland and South Carolina.
But there’s more in store for the event, Lowrimore says.
The festival will begin at 11 a.m. with special opening ceremonies on the museum’s front lawn, including a parade of tartans and a display of tartan banners carried by the Robert Burns Society of the Midlands, plus a presentation by the Spring Valley High School AFJROTC Color Guard. The national anthems of Scotland and the United Kingdom will be sung along with the “Star Spangled Banner.”
More music and also dancing will occur throughout the day with performances by Palmetto Pipes and Drums and the Celtic band Isla, and performances of Scottish country dancing and Highland dancing will be offered.
Other special lectures will include a talk, “Burns and America,” on the life of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, given by Dr. Patrick Scott, director of rare books and special collections at the Thomas Cooper Library. Also, Dr. Jack Weaver, member of the Scotch-Irish Society of the U.S.A. and retired professor of Irish Literature at Winthrop University, will present "One Old Stripper, An Old Churn and Hanovers: Irish and Other Dialect in the Blue Ridge Mountains."
In addition, wee laddies and lassies will find plenty of entertainment. In the afternoon, children ages 9-12 can try their luck at smaller versions of Scottish athletics such as the cabre toss, weight toss and stone of strength, a shot-put-like game. During the day, kids also can participate in the museum’s Scottish scavenger hunt to learn how the Scots impacted South Carolina. As prizes, children will receive miniature Scottish flags along with a history of the flags.
Throughout the day, guests can interact with different Scottish organizations at clan tables, which will display information about Scottish heritage and showcase different tartans. Guests can see more tartans and ways to wear them during an afternoon fashion show.
“Tartans are various plaid patterned textiles that distinguish certain families, or clans,” says Lowrimore. “South Carolina has had its own official tartan since the Carolina Tartan Act was passed in 2002.”
Carolina tartans will be available for purchase from the museum store, the Cotton Mill Exchange, and specialized vendors also will sell their wares.
Tartan Fest daytime events are free with museum admission or membership. For more information, call (803) 898-4952 or (803) 898-4902.
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Scottish music, dancing, a fashion show, golf activities, special speakers, kids’ activities and more at the annual Tartan Fest celebration of Scottish heritage on Saturday, April 14, 2007. Tartan Fest begins at 11 a.m. and is free with museum admission or membership.