ScotFestBC: Who's headlining, and everything you need to know

Early June is the time of year when Coquitlam’s Mike Chisholm starts checking his weather app regularly.

As executive director of ScotFestBC, an annual gathering at Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park, Chisholm has organized competitions, showcases, parties, workshops and programs that, in the past, have been drenched by bad weather.

Today, June 6, the forecast for the Father’s Day weekend calls for a mixed bag.

And Chisholm said he’s hopeful the skies will brighten and the rain will hold off for the 92nd ceilidh that features an array of Celtic entertainment, performances by world-class piping bands and educational talks, on June 14 and 15, 2024.

“It’s going to be our best festival yet,” he told the Tri-City News, which has returned as a corporate sponsor to the United Scottish Cultural Society event.

This year, following a financial loss in 2023, Chisholm said the group secured grants and sponsorship early in its planning season, including Signature Event funding from the City of Coquitlam.

The society also won money through the federal, provincial and regional governments, as well as support from Re/Max for the heavy events. It also generates funding through ticket sales on Saturday.

Celtic fiddling sensation and JUNO Award winner Ashley MacIsaac is the headliner for 2024 — his first-ever appearance at the annual festival.

He told the Tri-City News he's looking forward to the opportunity to return to B.C. to perform and lead a workshop, noting he hasn’t been back since before COVID-19 hit in 2020.

Like other musicians, he said, the pandemic was difficult.

“We couldn’t work for 34 months,” MacIsaac said, speaking from Cape Breton Island, where he grew up but now lives in Windsor, Ont. “There was so little work for so long for musicians that now everybody’s clamouring for work. Promoters are taking advantage of that.”

MacIsaac explained he’s now making up for lost time by taking on gigs, working on new albums, shooting a documentary and ramping up for his 50th birthday celebrations next February, when he plans 50 shows — at $50 a ticket — before his big day. MacIsaac also plans to treat himself to a vacation in Mexico City for 50 days.

“Things are building toward the future,” he said.

MacIsaac added he’ll be playing with guitarist Ben Tucker at ScotFestBC this year. “It’s the same show we do anywhere,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s 12 people or 12,000 people.”

Weekend fun

As for the other attractions during the Father’s Day weekend, Chisholm said visitors can get a taste of ScotFestBC at the free Pipes in the Park event Friday.

SFU’s Grade 3 Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band, which placed second at the World Championships in Scotland last year, will perform as well as the SFU Pipe Band Drum Corps, champion Highland dancer Marielle Lesperance, Pipe Major Jeff Rowell and the 78th Fraser Highlanders, who will blast their cannon.

The Piobaireachd (pronounced pee-brock) begins at 5 p.m. with some of B.C.’s best professional pipers while a kitchen party wraps up the Friday festivities.

On Saturday, starting at 8 a.m., are the dancing, piping, drumming and heavy events contests; the whisky school (additional cost); entertainment; the massed pipe bands performance at 5 p.m. and MacIsaac and Tucker at 7:30 p.m.

Heidi Hughes, Coquitlam’s manager of tourism and visitor economy, said ScotFestBC is one of the city’s long-standing signature events “that the city is extremely proud to support.”

She added the municipality recognizes ScotFestBC’s “substantial impact on our visitor economy and Coquitlam’s rich tapestry of cultural events, attracting visitors and participants from near and far as the influx of tourists boosts revenue for local businesses such as hotels, restaurants and shops.”

Weekend line up

Friday, June 14 (no entry cost)

Main Stage
- 6 p.m.: Opening Ceremony
- 6:20 p.m.: Pipes in the Park"
Big Tent Stage
- 5 p.m.: The Hounds of Cuchulain
- 7 p.m.: Live Celtic music
Town Centre Park
- 4 p.m. Food and merchandise vending opens and liquor service begins
- 5 p.m.: Open Piobaireachd on the Heritage Stage
- 7 p.m.: Whisky and Oysters (ticketed)

Saturday, June 15 (ticketed)

Main Stage
- 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Vancouver Open Highland Dancing Championships
Scottish Cultural Tent
- 11 a.m.: Vancouver Gaelic Choir “Learning Through Song”
- 12 p.m: Zephan Knichel “The Great Highland Bagpipe”
- 1 p.m.: Robert MacDonald “The Gallows Herd” or “Trouble with the Neighbours”
- 2 p.m.: Neil MacLean “100 years of Scottish Highland Games in BC”
- 3 p.m.: Ashley MacIsaac: fiddle workshop
- 4 p.m.: Robyn Carrigan “Milling frolics”
Big Tent Stage
- 10:30 a.m.: RSPBA Pacific Rim Drumming Championships
- 12:30 p.m.: Hounds of Cuchulain
- 1:30 p.m.: The Whiskey Dicks
- 2:45 p.m.: Bob Collins
- 4 p.m.: The Hounds of Cuchulain
- 5 p.m.: Massed pipe bands
- 6 p.m.: The Whiskey Dicks
- 7:30 p.m.: Ashley MacIsaac
The Meadows
- 8 a.m. BCPA Solo Piping and Drumming Competition
- 1 p.m.: JP Fell Pipe Band (North Vancouver)
- 1:30 p.m.: RCMP E Division Pipe Band (Surrey)
- 2 p.m.: Pipe band competitions, Grades 4 and 5
- 4:15 p.m.: Pipe band competitions, Grades 1 and 2

Getting there

With thousands of visitors expected for ScotFestBC, parking at and around Town Centre Park (1299 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam) will be tight. It’s recommended guests walk or cycle to the park, or hop on public transit. The Lafarge Lake–Douglas SkyTrain station is a 10-minute walk to the festival site.