Scottish culture takes over Historic Columbia Speedway

An event called Tartan Day South brings to mind kilts, bagpipe music and caber tossing.

How about sheep-herding?

In fact, Tartan Day South is so big (four days) and broad (yes to all of the above) that it includes all kinds of Scots-Irish culture. The dogs, for instance, come out every hour during the Saturday event at Historic Columbia Speedway in Cayce to show off their skills herding sheep or, sometimes, ducks.

National Tartan Day actually is April 6, the day Congress in 1997 set aside to recognize the contribution of Americans of Scottish descent. Major Tartan Day events have been staged in New York and Washington, D.C. Organizers of the Tartan Day South event, which began five years ago, aim for it to become the major such festival in the region, according to John Banks, one of the organizers.

The sheep-herding dogs actually are a very small part of the festivities at the main event Saturday. About 40 athletes wearing kilts will compete in the annual Highland Games, which feature seven events. In the caber toss event, participants flip a pole the size of a tree trunk.

The four-day festival begins with a Celtic movie on the river at the West Columbia Amphitheater on Thursday night, a concert called the Celtic Commotion at the speedway Friday night, the major festival event all day Saturday at the speedway, and a religious service at the amphitheater Sunday morning.

Organizers are particularly proud of the concert lineup this year, with the Tannahill Weavers coming from Scotland and local bagpiper extraordinaire Neal Anderson playing with his Celtic roots rock band Rathkeltair.

Info: tartandaysouth.com.

Joey Holleman

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Scottish culture takes over Historic Columbia Speedway."