'Three years' worth of partying': Scottish Festival returning to Itasca after pandemic pause
Midwesterners who trace their roots to Scottish family clans can finally gather with the return of the Scottish Festival and Highland Games on Friday and Saturday in Itasca.
Though there were online versions of festivities during the past two years of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, festival organizers are glad to be celebrating in person again.
"We have three years' worth of partying to pack into one year," said Gus Noble, president of the Chicago Scots.
This year will be the 36th annual festival and games, which organizers bill as "The Midwest's largest Scottish event."
It's jam-packed with dancing, bagpiping, vendors selling fashion and food, and the ever-impressive heavy athletics competitions that can trace their roots to the 10th century under King Malcolm Ceanmore.
There will be a British car show, a scotch-tasting master class, and a petting zoo featuring Scottish animals. And the American Scots can also laugh at themselves with sillier competitions tied to the Scottish "delicacy" of haggis.
But Noble also emphasizes some sadness amid the pandemic. The Chicago Scots, the oldest registered nonprofit organization in Illinois, also runs Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care in North Riverside as its principal charity.
"We were literally in the crosshairs of COVID from moment one with its cruelty to seniors, and therefore we have been hyper-cautious since the earliest days," Noble said.
"We're driven by twin engines in our mission: One is care manifested in Caledonia Senior Living, and the other is culture for 176 years that we've been bringing something of home - Scotland - to Chicago."
For 2022, Noble says there will be a special ceremony honoring the staff members of Caledonia Senior Living and their ability to maintain one of the state's best safety records during the pandemic.
Also, the Chicago Scots is partnering with Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. Several ensembles have been booked to show how the Scottish diaspora would go on to influence American styles of music like bluegrass and old-time country.
But if that isn't enough for Celtic music fans, Noble says nearly 35 pipe bands are set so far to appear in the festival's music competitions. Noble is eagerly anticipating the mass bagpipe celebration near the end, especially this year when the traditional performance of "Amazing Grace" is likely to take on extra meaning.
"In that moment when a lone bagpiper will begin to play the first verse, and then hundreds of other musicians will join in and play together - there's a moment when time almost seems to stop," Noble said. "That's the moment we stop and remember those who cannot be with us."
Scottish Festival and Highland Games
Location: The Chicago Scots at Hamilton Lakes, 2 Pierce Place, Itasca, (708) 447-5092 or <a href="https://chicagoscots.org/festival">chicagoscots.org</a>
Festival hours: 1 to 10 p.m. Friday; 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday
General admission: $20 on Friday; $30 on Saturday; $45 two-day pass; discounts available for seniors, youth over the age of 13 and active-duty military; Kids ages 12 and under admitted free with a guardian
Parking: $5 single-day pass; $8 two-day pass