Celebrate the 50th Dunedin Highland Games & Festival and spend the day watching The City of Dunedin's Pipe and Drum Corps among others, authentic Scottish dancers, and a centuries old Scottish/Highland competition! You will find entertainment in the Pipe Drone Pub, Border collies and sheep dog contests and an epic annual Tug of War as more than 40 Clans and Scottish Societies invite you to celebrate the Scottish Highland heritage of historic Dunedin, FL.
Merchandise booths selling artisan crafts and jewelry will be on hand with food vendors offering some of the best food and drinks in the area including craft beers, wine, mead and ciders from Dunedin's eclectic microbreweries! The Dunedin Highland games are one of the BEST family outings on the West Coast of Florida and something you do not want to miss! The week long events culminating in the games include a Military Tattoo, a Celtic Music & Craft Beer Festival, a Tartan Reception, a Tartan Ball, and a celebration of the life of Scottish Poet, Robert Burns.
Tickets are $16 in advance, $18 at the gate. VIP tickets are available for a limited time at $75. You can experience this landmark event Saturday, April 2nd from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm at Highlander Park. Get your tickets now! You can purchase them online or locally at Lothian Kilt Rental and Bagpipe Supplies, the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce or The Celtic Shop of Dunedin.
Celebrate the Heritage and Culture of Scotland with great music, authentic dancing, amazing athletics, spectacular Food and cold brews!
Celebrate the 50th Annual Highland Games in Historic Dunedin and Experience Dunedin's Scottish Roots
Scottish families settled the City of Dunedin in 1899. Scots J.O. Douglas and James Sumerville named their new home Dunedin, a Gaelic interpretation of the word Edinburgh. Fifty-eight years later in 1957, Dunedin Highland Junior High School opened. This was the first school I attended after settling here from Philadelphia in 1968. The original building (now part of Dunedin Middle School) was designed and constructed to honor Dunedin’s Scottish founders.
Attending the school's opening ceremonies in '57 a local reporter, who later became Mayor, had an idea. Soon after a set of bagpipes arrived from Scotland and piper Matt Forsythe, another transplant from Scotland, offered his services as bagpiper! When the junior high students moved up to the newly built Dunedin High School a few years later two pipe bands formed. Following graduation, DHS students then formed an adult City band known today as the Dunedin Pipe and Drum Corps.
Bagpipes are part of our lives as residents of Dunedin. Last weekend I watched as 40 female DHS classmates from '72, '73 and '74, wept at our annual get-together when the City's Pipe and Drum Corps surprised us with an unexpected concert. When you grow up in Dunedin bagpipes are in your blood, they become a part of your life. Trust me when I say, if you did not grow up in Dunedin you will feel what residents feel by attending the Dunedin Highland Games. It is like nothing else you can experience in this area. It's infectious! Just ask Chris Chmura a native and Dunedin High School Grad!
Come, celebrate the 50th Annual Highland Games in Historic Dunedin with me!
