Lyon to present annual Arkansas Scottish Festival

BATESVILLE — Lyon College will have its 38th annual Arkansas Scottish Festival on the weekend of April 7-9 on the college’s campus.

Established in 1981 as the Ozark Scottish Festival, the festival is emblematic of the college, its Scottish heritage and its Presbyterian connection.

The festival will kick off the evening of April 7 with a Celtic concert at 7 p.m. in the college’s historic Brown Chapel. Admission to the concert is $10 for adults. Children younger than 18 will be admitted free.

Gates will open at 8 a.m. April 8, and events will begin with a Scottish breakfast at the college’s dining hall, followed by music, solo piping and drumming competitions, sheepdog demonstrations, Highland dancing demonstrations, children’s games and a British car show.

Opening ceremonies will begin at 1 p.m. with a parade of massed bands and clans. The parade will comprise all present bands and individual pipers and drummers, as well as the parade of clans, in which representatives of all the attending Scottish clans and societies will show their banners.

Afternoon activities will include the the Southwest Pipe Band Championships and an awards ceremony. The awards ceremony will include trophies for bands, the Celtic Poetry Contest, Piper of the Day, Drummer of the Day and Best Clan. A feast and ceilidh (a party with music and dancing) will finish off the day.

Events on April 9 will begin with a traditional Iona outdoor worship service, with a helping of tea and scones available at 8:30 a.m. Highlights of the day will include pipe-band demonstrations, Celtic music and the Bonniest Knees Contest, which features blindfolded women feeling the knees of kilted men to determine whose knees are the “bonniest.”

This year, the festival will also host the Tartan Mountain Bike and Trail Race. The Tartan will feature four trailracing events: the 5K trail run, the 10K trail run, the 10-mile mountain-bike race and the kilted mile, where competitors will run a mile in their kilts. Proceeds from these events will be used for the maintenance of the college’s trail system. For registration fees and event times, visit lyon.edu/trailrace.

The Lyon College MabeeSimpson Library Book Sale will be held in conjunction with the festival. Proceeds will benefit the library. There will be hundreds of books, DVDs and CDs on a variety of subjects. To donate items for the sale, drop then off at the Mabee-Simpson Library on campus. For more information about the book sale or donations, call (870) 307-7206 or email camille. beary@lyon.edu.

Admission to the festival is free. The festival will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 8, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 9. For a complete festival schedule, visit lyon.edu/scotsfest.