Bagpipes, tartans, hammer-throwing, and other wee tastes of Scottish heritage abound at Gallabrae
When Scotch-Irish families began arriving in North America in the 1700s, many headed toward the Southeast and the Appalachian frontier—seeking, as author Sharyn McCrumb suggests, “highland vistas, land, and as few neighbors as possible.” Today, Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina have one of the highest concentrations of people of Scots and Scots-Irish descent in the US. Since 2006, Greenville has celebrated that heritage with the Greenville Scottish Games, part of the annual Gallabrae festival held on Memorial Day weekend.
The celebration begins with the Great Scot Parade on Friday evening, turning Main Street into a veritable river of tartan, with pipe bands, marching clans, and other Scottish-themed entries. The honor guard for the parade will be eight active-duty members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS), who will also participate in the Military Salute on Furman University’s rugby field on Saturday morning. Then the games begin—piping and drumming competitions, as well as traditional Highlands sports like hammer throwing and caber tossing.
Those activities became embedded in Scottish culture after the Disarming of the Highlands circa 1725, when the Parliament of Great Britain sought to crush the clan system after the Jacobite Uprising. Once their broad swords, poignards, whingers, durks, and pistols were confiscated by the British Army, the Highland Scots turned to what was available, explains Jay Spivey, board member and marketing director of Gallabrae.
“They started picking up these athletic games where they could still train without weapons,” says Spivey. “So that tradition was their answer to, ‘We’ve got to be ready for the next time we have to fight the English.’”
Party in the Hills
A show of classic and modern British cars and motorcycles, a border collie demonstration, a Wee Scotland village, food vendors, and Celtic rock bands round out the Gallabrae weekend on the campus.
More than 25 registered clans from around the country will have representatives at Gallabrae. Margaret Frances Boswell Eliott of Redheugh, the 29th Chief of Clan Elliot, will be Gallabrae’s 2025 Chief of the Games.
“It’s about Scottish families and their heritage and history,” says Spivey (Clan MacIntosh). “When you think about Greenville once being the textile center of the world, a lot of that was built on the backs of Scottish and Scots-Irish immigrants that came to the Upstate seeking work.”
Many of the notable figures in the city’s history have Scots or Scots-Irish roots, notes Spivey, including Vardry McBee, the “father of Greenville,” who was born to Scottish Quaker parents in the Spartanburg area in 1775, and WWI flying ace Captain John Donaldson, a Greenville native for whom Donaldson Center is named.
Organizers coined the name “Gallabrae” by combining the root Gaelic words “galla,” meaning “party,” and “brae,” meaning “hills.”
“It’s a party in the hills,” Spivey says. “We tell everyone, ‘You don’t have to be Scottish to come to Gallabrae. It’s just fun.’”
You Can Go to Gallabrae
May 23–24, 2025, gallabrae.com
Friday, May 23:
6p.m.: Great Scot Parade, Main Street, Greenville
Saturday, May 24:
Events at Furman University
11:30 a.m.: Military Salute, followed by Piping and Drumming and Heavy Athletics competitions
5:30–7:30 p.m.: Celtic Jam
Throughout the day: British Car Show, Furman Mall
