Elizabeth Doss will never forget the first time she was exposed to the Scottish Highland Games and Celtic Music Festival.
“I was 7 and back then it was held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. I remember a band marching down a ramp. It was the first time I heard the sound of bagpipes,” Doss, 39, said recently.
Doss played piano for years but when she was in high school, she wanted to try to learn a new instrument.
Doss wanted to learn how to play the bagpipes.
A retired band director from Moss Point High School, Jack Lander, taught her, and she’s played ever since.
Today, Doss is the treasurer of the Highlands and Islands Association of Celtic Gatherings, the nonprofit group that puts on The Scottish Highland Games and Celtic Music Festival in Gulfport.
This year’s festival will be held Nov. 9 and 10 at the Harrison County Fairgrounds.
The festival features two full days of Scottish and Irish culture, food, music, dancing, and athletics.
Visitors will get a chance to listen to folk music, Celtic rock, bagpipe bands, and Irish harp music.
“You’ll hear plenty of fiddles and flutes,” Doss said.
The food visitors can try is more than just corn beef and cabbage.
“The lamb and beef meat pies are popular. My favorite is the macaroni and cheese pie,” Doss said.
Scotch eggs are another popular festival food.
Scotch eggs are hard-boiled eggs wrapped in ground sausage and deep fried, Doss said.
The athletic games are a unique part of the festival.
Athletes compete in a sheaf toss, the iconic caber toss, ax throwing, and jousting.
For visitors who want to learn about their Scottish or Irish heritages, genealogists well versed in clan history will be available to help them identify their family clans and tartans.
There will also be a sheep herding exhibition.
“We have a gentleman from Stone County who brings his sheep and two to three border collies. He will demonstrate how he herds the sheep with the dogs using various whistles and clicks,” Doss said.
For children, the festival will also feature highland cows, a Celtic Disney princess — Princess Merida — from the film, “Brave,” and a unicorn from Wiggins.
In it’s 39th year, Doss said the festival offers all kinds of sights and sounds to visitors.
“For those who have never been, I would say that visitors can expect two days of music and food and other things you don’t typically see and experience in the American South,” Doss said.
For more information about the festival, ticket prices, and the daily schedules, visit mshighlandsandislands.com.
