By Christine Bryant
Staff Writer
The Reynoldsburg community is invited to learn more about Scottish heritage at this year’s Tartan Day celebration, which will feature dancing, games and music.
The event, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 9 at the Reynoldsburg Senior Center, 1520 Davidson Drive, marks the April 6, 1320, signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence.
“This document was the foundation of our own Declaration of Independence,” said Margaret McCullough, who heads the annual Reynoldsburg celebration. “Of the signers of our Declaration of Independence, 13 were Scots.”
Indoor activities at the senior center will include two bagpipe bands, a Celtic band called “Mad Maudlin” that will perform traditional folk songs, a storyteller who will share folklore style stories, Scottish Country Dancing, children’s games and Highland Dancers, which perform routines similar to Irish Dancers.
“There will also be heavy athletics throughout the day,” McCullough said. “This will be held at the baseball diamonds. The most well known is the caber toss – a large telephone pole tossed by the competitor, the sheath toss using a pitch fork to toss a bale of hay over a pole, and the stone throw, which is like a discus.”
Children’s games will mimic the heavy athletic games, she said.
“We also have Big Mac, the statue of the Scotsman, from the Reynoldsburg Historical Society, and members of the society there to discuss the Scottish connection to Reynoldsburg,” McCullough said.
The event is free, though a donation jar is on hand and organizers will raffle off a basket of Scottish goods.
The American celebration of Scottish heritage, Tartan Day draws many curious about their ancestry.
“We get people who know their Scottish heritage coming to celebrate with us, and those looking for more information come to get answers,” McCullough said.
For McCullough, overseeing the Tartan Day celebration comes naturally. Of Scottish descent and past president of Daughters of Scotland, she says Reynoldsburg has more Scottish history than one might think.
“Reynoldsburg was founded by eight Scottish families,” she said. “Livingston and Graham are just two of them.”
