Live Like a Native Celebrate our Region’s Scots-Irish Tradition

Loch Norman Highland Games are an annual spring staple

BY LORI HELMS

If it’s April, it must be time for a long-standing Lake Norman area tradition — it’s time to make room on your calendar for the annual Loch Norman Highland Games and the accompanying festival celebrating Scottish heritage. The event is a recognition of the large number of ScotsIrish immigrants who settled in the Mecklenburg area in the 1700s. In fact, a majority of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence from British rule of May 20, 1775 (yes, a full year before our country’s Declaration of Independence was signed), were Scots-Irish. Several family lines remain here — particularly in northern Mecklenburg County – to this day.

Held at Huntersville’s Historic Rural Hill Farm, the games are a celebration that, according to local lore, may have first happened on U.S. soil more than 200 years ago in Ellerbe, North Carolina (about 100 miles east-southeast of Lake Norman). That may or may not be fact, but we can absolutely confirm that Rural Hill has been the games’ home for decades — in 2024, Lake Norman natives and those new to the area will celebrate 30 years of the Loch Norman Highland Games and all its pageantry.

Held April 20-21, festival goers can expect to see the heavy athletics hallmarks of any Highland festival, including tossing the caber, the hammer throw and tug-owar. If not watching the athletic competitors, make sure to catch the Highland dancing or bagpipe band competitions, traditional and contemporary Celtic music performances and whisky tastings, or even try your hand at shooting a long bow or throwing a battle axe. There are also plenty of shopping opportunities, food and beverage vendors and even a chance — with a little help from the various Scottish clan societies on hand — to possibly discover any Scottish or Scots-Irish ties of your own.

It’s not just the Loch Norman Highland Games that call Rural Hill home each year. On New Year’s Day, take part in the annual “First Footin’ 2024” to celebrate the Scottish new year or Hogmanay, a free event where guests can enjoy a bowl of vegetable soup and a guided walk around the property to learn more about Rural Hill’s history, which dates back to the 18th century.

In September, it’s time for the Amazing Maize Maze — a family-friendly event spread across seven acres and one of the largest corn mazes in the Southeast. Usually running from mid-September to early November, there are typically night maze events available as well, on Fridays and Saturdays in October.

And don’t miss the Rural Hill Sheepdog Trials and Dog Festival in early November. Watch champion Border Collies and their handlers who, using only voice and whistle commands to communicate, herd a flock of sheep through a series of gates and into a pen. There will also be plenty of kids’ activities, food and drink vendors, exhibits and demonstrations. And, of course, your dog is more than welcome to attend.

Learn more about Rural Hill and all it has to offer at www.ruralhill.net, or visit the farm at 4431 Neck Road in Huntersville.