Curious about your Scottish or Celtic heritage? Interested to learn more or discover something new? Join us in the Heritage Hub to hear performances and presentations about traditional music, history, textiles, whiskey and more.

2026 Schedule

Saturday, May 16, 2026

• 9:00:
  Allison Vardy
  Harpist
• 10:00:
  How we Saved the Harry Potter Railway
  with Audio Visual
• 11:00:
  Scottish Myths, Monsters & Legends
  with Audio-Visual
• 13:00:
  Women’s Foodways in the Highlands & Islands 1770-1850
  Audio-Visual
• 14:00:
  The Rich Land of Gaelic Culture
  with Audio-Visual
• 15:00:
  Evolution of Scottish Dance
  Mary Ross & the V.I. Dance Team
• 16:00:
  The Victoria Gaelic Choir
  Ceilidh & sing-along

Sunday, May 17, 2026

• 9:00:
  Allison Vardy
  Harpist
• 10:00:
  Nuclear Energy in Scotland & Beyond
  with Audio-Visual
• 11:00:
  Scottish Myths, Monsters & Legends
  with Audio-Visual
• 13:00:
  Better Never Grew! Scotch Broom
  with Audio-Visual
• 14:00:
  Whisky, Snuff & Witchcraft
  with Audio-Visual
• 15:00:
  Evolution of Scottish Dance
  Gordon Robinson, Mary Ross
  & the V.I. Dance Team
• 16:00:
  The Victoria Gaelic Choir
  Ceilidh & sing-along

Performers & Presenters

Harpist, Allison Vardy

A resident of Cedar, Alison has been plucking harp strings for many years. She plays without written music, switching keys and hands effortlessly. Alison begins each day at the Heritage Hub at 9 o’clock. Bring your morning coffee and gently get ready for the day.

Michael Elcock, Author & Historian.

Saltire Society
The Fight to Save the Harry Potter Railway: How we stopped London from Closing the Line.

Years before Harry Potter, British Rail tried to close one of the most beautiful railway lines in the world. Michael’s photo-journalism work for The Scotsman Colour Magazine helped to keep it open, and galvanise the line’s rehabilitation.

Lois Thompson, Genealogist

Victoria Genealogical Society
Scottish Myths, Monsters & Legends.

Genealogy is more than names and dates. Genealogy is also about our ancestors’ beliefs and what influenced their thinking. Lois presents a fun discussion on various myths, monsters, legends and how they influenced our ancestors. She will discuss how we continue to be influenced by our ancestors’ beliefs. Lois has presented at the Highland Games Heritage Tent for the last 5 years.

Dr. Theresa Mackay, Historian.

University of Victoria
Our Kitchen Landscape: Women’s Foodways in the Western Highlands and Islands, 1770–1850

Twice selected as UVic’s Scottish Studies Fellow, Dr. Mackay specializes in the history of women and foodways of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Highlands and Islands, the focus of today’s talk. Her award-winning research on women innkeepers, featured extensively on the BBC, and became the inspiration for her forthcoming book on Scottish food history.

Sharron Gunn, Author

The Scottish Highlands:
Rich Land of Gaelic Language & Culture.

Gaelic speaker, teacher, translator, interpreter of Gaelic nuance, historical consultant, and author, Sharron will take us through the land of the Gaels.

Bob Williamson, Engineer

Saltire Society
Nuclear Energy in Scotland and Beyond

Bob worked in the construction of Scotland’s first nuclear power plant, and in civil engineering design for nuclear plants in England. He was involved with the development of the CANDU nuclear plants in Canada and overseas.

Michael Layland, Author & Historian

The Saltire Society, and The Victoria Historical Society.
Better Never Grew!
Scotch Broom — love it or pull it?

Michael Layland has written four books about early Vancouver Island. While not a Scot, he is married to a proud Macdonald, and so is a member of the Saltire Society.

Marilyn Bowering, Author

The Saltire Society
Whisky, Snuff and Witchcraft:
Mary MacLeod, 17th century Gaelic Bard

The award-winning Canadian Author sketches some of her findings about the cost of standing up to power. Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh was a rarity. Her lyrics were honoured, but she was marginalized, denigrated as a witch, exiled for composing songs on subjects forbidden to women, and for upholding traditional values in the face of English colonisation.

Gordon Robinson with
Accordionist Mary Ross,
and the Vancouver Island
Scottish Country Dance Society.

The Evolution of Scottish Dance:
At Home and Around the World.

The Saltire Society’s Gordon Robinson, a popular teacher of Scottish Dance, will explain the development of this healthy and enjoyable dance form. One of the most compelling parts of Scottish dance is the music. Mary’s Ross-shire heritage gives her strong ties to the Celtic music she plays so beautifully. Both will be joined by Joan Axford and Van Isle demonstration dancers. Most importantly, you will get a chance to join in and experience the joy for yourself.

The Victoria Gaelic Choir

Guth nan Eilean, The Victoria Scottish Gaelic Choir is a SATB a cappella choir based in Victoria, BC. We sing traditional songs of the Scottish Highlands in Gaelic while also including some contemporary favorites in Scots. Join us for sing-alongs, featured solos, and more. Be sure to see our full, thirty member choir perform on the music stage at 10am on Sunday. Sit in with us as we full cloth and sing traditional waulking songs at our table among the clan tents too!