Scottish Festival and Highland Games

This is a great event and something to see. It is enjoyable to experience the culture and hear the music even if you are not of Scottish heritage.
The St. Andrews Society does it up big each year. I only regret missing the ascension this year. This is the part of the events I recommend for those who have not experienced it. Add to your bucket list!

Used to be 5 stars but every year it gets more spread out and less fun. This last year everything was so separated that I felt like I missed half of what used to make it so fun. Cost goes up, quality goes down. I really hope they hire a professional to layout the festivities next year.

So apparently I have descended from the Fraser Clan in Scotland. How do I know that? Because the friendly folks at the Scottish Festival helped me look it up. Yep.
No joke, I’m not extremely into my heritage. They say that first gens typically aren’t, and that’s kind of true of me. At least on my dad’s side. On my mom’s side, I’m not first gen, and for whatever reason, I think being Scottish is extremely cool. So learning a bit about my heritage this past Saturday was awesome.
More awesome was watching the heavy events, where dudes my size toss heavy shit around to measure distance and strength. I’d love to do that, but I’m not even in their league as far as strength goes. I looked up the bios and some of them can bench almost twice as much as my max. Srsly.
But it was cool, nonetheless.
We also perused the booths, found my tartan plaid, and came this close to buying a kilt. If I actually had somewhere to wear it, I might consider it. Maybe a tie or a scarf would suit me better.
The food was plentiful with pasties and turnovers and bangers and haggis and all the typical Scottish treats. I say typical as if it’s a thing. True, it’s a little bland for those who are more adventurous, but still tasty.
Finally, we watched some of the canine agility competition, which is always cool to see.
All in all, it was a very pleasant morning at the festival and I’m glad we went. Next year, we’re planning to bring a tent and some chairs so our pale, pale skin doesn’t get hammered by the summer sunshine.
$ 20 was a bit steep of an admission price, but didn’t kill us. Truly, the fest offers quite a bit and there’s a lot to see, eat and do.

This event was great. I was a little disappointed with the lack of a solidified schedule and information provided prior to the event and was a little surprised that the admission was $ 20 upon arrival, but after I entered the event I knew it was well worth it. From the Highland games and Celtic music to the vendors and food I was pleasantly surprised. I even learned a little more about my family heritage and clan. Plus it was pleasing to see how many fellow Celtic faces and kilts there were to be seen. You could definitely feel the heritage and in my opinion it would have been a recommendable experience even for those of of non Scottish or Celtic decent. I’m glad I found this event and will definitely be attending in following years to come.

I love this event! I’ve been going for about 3 or so years now and it gets a little better each time. I like the new Itasca location better than the previous Oak Brook location personally. There are lots of Vendors, food tents, Whisky Tasting, beer, music, dancing and contests throughout the day to enjoy. I also really like this event because the different clans are there to help you find out more about your family’s history. In fact I think i’ve found out more about my history from this event than researching it on my own.
The dog show is one of my favorite’s mainly because you see breeds that you normally wouldn’t. Irish Wolfhound anyone? I mean that thing is like a horse! Well and lets be real my other favorite reason for going is the food, particularly the baked goods. If it has a raisin in it, it’s like a beacon of Scottish goodness!
The only downside to this even that causes me to not give it 5 stars is the price. It’s $ 20 on Saturday to get in (at the gate) and $ 5 to park. I mean that’s Renaissance Faire prices, with less entertainment and vendors. Friday’s are cheaper but they are only open until 8pm-​ish or so. They also sell advanced discount tickets but you’ll only save about $ 5 which is better than nothing… but still.

I definitely recommend trying out this event at least once especially if you’re Scottish, Irish or Welsh… but even if you’re not you won’t be kicked out. And feel free to don your fanciest kilt! ;)

Always a good time. It’s a very laid-​back festival with good folk. I think the hefty admission price scares off the typical summer festival riff raff. I have no problem paying higher admission price to steer clear of crazy drunk people being loud and obnoxious. There are different areas to visit, some activities going on simultaneously. Sheep hearding, caber toss, dog agility competition, scottish bands, celtic rock band stage, beer, food, etc. Bring your own chairs — there’s no seating, except some tented area by the band. We bring chairs, pop-​up tent, coolers (without alcohol) allowed, so we pack snacks and drinks and make a day of it. Fun wandering through the vendors to see what they’re selling also. I believe if you purchase tickets ahead of time online they are a bit cheaper. Kids might be bored unless they are the patient type (mine aren’t!). There’s not much for kids to do except sit and watch. There are plenty of kids that attend, mind you, but I just know that mine would be bored. If you haven’t gone, it’s fun to do at least once!

This is simply an amazing festival. Scotland is part of my wife’s background, so we were really excited to see booths setup about the history of different names and families. We paid extra for the whiskey tasting (hold on to your hat, that is some powerful stuff). There were so many things to eat, dances to watch, bagpipes to hear and judge, strongest man competition where they flip end over end a telephone pole, face painting, arts and crafts, and even store layouts to buy bread, clothing, swords, and all kinds of cool Scottish stuff. The event pretty much takes over the corporate park in Itasca. Great idea for a family with kids, or a fun time with a group of friends. I think this is the 26^th year or something. Don’t miss it!

I’m a well-​rounded Celtic girl, so I’ve been to the Celtic Festival in Grant Park, I’ve been to the Irish-​American Heritage Festival, but there was definitely a piece of the puzzle missing until I got to go to the huge and great St. Andrews Society Scottish Festival & Highland Games in Oak Brook this week-​end.
This was definitely a larger set-​up than the Highland Games I used to frequent in Texas at UTArlington (more focus on the games with some vendors and music); this venue has a big stage and a large tent full of tables to listen in; a smaller stage for performers such as kids’ dance troupes; a parade ground/​athletics field where they did the parade of clans early on and later the highland games; rugby and soccer pitches; a large open area where the pipe and drum groups performed; a children’s area with crafts and a bounce house; the clan tents (find your people!); the Celtic Marketplace (a large number and variety of vendors, selling everything from jewelry to shortbread to kilts [both traditional tartan to the now-​ubiquitous Utilikilt] to canned haggis [yes, you heard me. And you thought it was bad in fresh form!])
Among other things, my clan listened to music (the Killdares and Switchback, plus the piping and drumming), made the rounds among the vendors (it’s all about jewelry for me, and I finally found a ring with a thistle on it after letting one go five years ago and then kicking myself ever since), purchased some delicious chocolate chip shortbread from Nancy’s Sweet Nothings, ogled the classic British cars, checked out the Knobbly Knees Contest (guys in kilts compared knees, with as much flair as possible), and partook of some fish and chips before succumbing to the heat.
We missed out on whisky tastings, watching the haggis hurl (lassies chuck a 1-​lb. frozen haggis for distance), haggis eating contest (that might have made *me* hurl…), and some of the sports, but after a few hours in the high 80s with very little covered space to rest, it was time to get out of the sun.
This brings me to the things that could be improved for the future:
— They need more seating. Covered and not. The only covered spot was by the Celtic Rock tent, and a lot of the space in it was taken up by tables; nix the tables and just fill with chairs. It’s a fair; people can eat out of hand. Since it was so hot on this occasion, they definitely needed more places to get away from the sun.
Around the athletic field and piping/​drum field, they needed some bleachers or chairs or something, because everyone was just standing around.
— The inept cops directing traffic on the way in! Cars backed up half a mile in either direction while they milled around and moved their cars three times. Come on.
— Why is it only on Friday and Saturday? Most week-​end events that include a Friday are Fri-​Sun. And since Friday night was a wash-​out (the ground was still soupy), Saturday was hopping, because it was then or never.
Overall, still a worthy past time for those who wear the plaid. So next year, get to Oak Brook for the Scottish Festival and get your Caledonian on, because if it’s NAE SCOTTISH, IT’S CRRRRAAPP!!!