DUANE SHERRILLEditor

Hundreds flocked to the annual Piping on the Green Festival on the campus of South Jackson Performing Arts Center Saturday to enjoy music, food and fun and to learn about Scottish culture.

“It gives us a chance to share a little bit about Scottish culture, history, a little bit of the lifestyle, a lot of the music,” said organizer Shawn Bowling of the Highland Rim Scottish Society which puts on the family-friendly event. “It’s a good way to learn about your family’s past and maybe learn where your family moved from. Maybe get in touch with your roots a little bit.”

The Highland Rim Scottish Society teams up with South Jackson Performing Arts Center to hold the annual event on their campus. Highland Rim has been together since the 1990s and are a steadily growing club. “We have people from 18 to 80 in the group now,” he said. “We are constantly getting together with each other for dinners and different events.”

Bowling said that moving to South Jackson from their former location at the Celtic Cup has allowed the event to spread out given the additional space. The event Saturday also featured music going on simultaneously on two stages–one on the main front stage and the other the back stage. This allowed for numerous musical acts to perform even as events such as a whiskey tasting was going on inside South Jackson–for those over 21.

“We are able to get more clans involved and hope for between 10 and 20 the next go around,” he said. “We are able to spread out with our vendors now so we aren’t quite on top of each other. And, with the extra land we are hoping to incorporate some athletics or highland games come next year.”

Bowling said he would like to thank the community that came out in support of the festival.