2023 ScotFestBC expands to full weekend festival with new events – SFU Pipe Band concert, Irish traditional great Sharon Shannon, and full-day global music festival on Sunday

Coquitlam, BC, March 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BC’s annual Scottish music, cultural and competition festival is expanding with several new events this year, including a Friday evening concert by one of the world’s top pipe bands and a day-long world music festival. 

Since the pandemic ScotFestBC has been holding larger-scale annual festivals at Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park, centered on a full Saturday program following a Friday evening of music, dance, whisky & oysters. With the venue no longer able to hold everything and crowds growing, the festival is adding a more robust Friday evening program featuring a full concert by the SFU Pipe Band & Irish traditional performer Sharon Shannon and an entire new day – a Sunday World Music Festival with the main stage hosted by the Yukon’s Gurdeep Pandher. The event is being renamed “ScotFestBC: The British Columbia Highland Games & World Music Festival.”

The festival will run June 16 – 18 at Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park. 

“The additions reflect what we’re hearing from attendees and the growing crowds,” says Mike Chisholm, ScotFestBC Executive Director. “ScotFestBC has long been the only opportunity in BC to see the big pipe bands, the best pipers and some of the world’s top Celtic groups, and we’re responding to interest in more of that by adding more. We’re also responding to interest in more of the world music we’ve been bringing to our stages in recent years by adding a one-day world music festival on the Sunday, creating an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of music from around the world that has found a home in BC.”

ScotFestBC’s multicultural music program started a few years ago with a performance by The Royal Academy of Bhangra, a Surrey group that fuses dance traditions of Indian’s Punjab with Highland Scotland traditions. The program grew from there. The festival added a dedicated world music stage to its Saturday schedule a couple of years ago, and is now expanding to a full day of park-wide world music programming. 

ScotFestBC’s core program of bagpiping, Highland dancing, and heavy sports such as caber-tossing, will remain unchanged on the Saturday. The day also features a massed band of all pipers to end the day, a big tent with a rotating roster of Celtic bands and a beverage service, a whisky school, cultural workshops, and vendors across the entire facility.  

The 2023 ScotFestBC program will include:

Friday evening (3 – 10 pm)  

• Opening ceremony – 6:00 pm.
• The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band on the Main Stage to perform a full concert starting 6:15 pm.
• Irish great Sharon Shannon will follow the pipe band on The Big Tent stage
• Whisky & Oysters. Presented by Macaloney Distillery (ticketed event)
• Highland Dance Choreography
• Also on Friday, the big tent and beverage service will be open in the afternoon with Blackthorn as the opening act.  

Saturday (7 am – 10 pm)

• The 91^st British Columbia Highland Games – piping, drumming, highland dancing, Scottish heavy events, massed pipe bands, cultural workshops, children’s activities.
• Piping – Solo piping, drumming and pipe bands will compete throughout the day on The Meadow, wrapping up with a massed pipe band performance at 5 pm. 
• Celtic music on The Big Tent Stage – Celtic bands throughout the day. 
• Heritage Stage, Irish & Scottish dancers, singers
• Whisky School – Bill Diamond is back with four unique afternoon whisky tasting classes
• Cultural Tent – topics that will inform, educate and entertain, starting at 10 am 
• Vendors – Scottish and world vendors & artisans offering a range of interesting items
• Saturday Whisky & Oysters, Presented by Macaloney Distillery (ticketed event)
• Food trucks – Something for everyone. 

Sunday (10 am – 5 pm)

• A full day of world music, hosted by Gurdeep Pandher, including
  • Foro Do Cana (Brazil)
  • Royal Academy of Bhangra (Indian)
  • Git Hayetsk Dancers (First Nations)
  • Sade’ Awele & Serengeti (African infused R&B)
  • Robin Laine & the Rhythm Makers (World jazz, folk, trad)
  • Jai Yoga
  • Mariachi Los Dorados (Mexico)
  • Pierre Schryer & Adam Dombres (French)
  • Silk Road Music (Asian)
  • Bero Saker Fusion (Middle Eastern)
  • JP Fell Pipe Band (Scottish)
  • Gaelic/Hindustani Fusion
  • Sweet Pan Entertainment (Caribbean)
  • Roots Peruvian Folk Dance
  • Kvitka Ukranian Dance

• Global workshops on the many nations that make up Canada, including
  • Indian
  • Chinese
  • South African
  • Pakistani
  • First Nations

Tickets on sale starting March 15 at ScotFestBC.com.