TOPSHAM — Bagpipes. Sheepdogs. Scottish dancers. World-class Highland athletics. That’s what the 32nd annual Maine Highland Games will offer Saturday, Aug. 21, at the fairgrounds.

Held at Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick for the past two decades, the Games were moved to allow for expanded activity. The event will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

With hundreds of yards of colorful tartans flapping in the breeze, Games-goers will have a variety of Scottish activities from which to choose. Besides massed pipe band performances on the parade ground at noon and 5 p.m., there will also be a parade of the tartans, harp workshops and concerts, a fiddle workshop, kilt-making demonstrations, a Celtic jam session, Highland cattle demonstrations, youth athletics competition and an abundance of hearty Scottish food..

Pogey, which has played at every major American festival, will entertain throughout the day, as will Colin Grant and four other musicians from Cape Breton in Maine on the “A Taste of Celtic Colours” tour (see accompanying story).

There will also be frequent musical performances by longtime Games favorites Charlie Zahm and Colin Grant-Adams (no relation to Colin Grant of the Celtic Colours).

The fairgrounds are located just 1.2 miles from Exit 31 off I-295.

Proceeds from the event, put on by the St. Andrews Society of Maine, will help provide scholarships to people training in traditional Celtic arts such as piping, drumming, language, Highland dance, harp, fiddle and kilt-making.

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