There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes for our dance group you may not know about. To help maintain our dance group as well as continue promoting Scottish values and traditions, this Tartan Day, April 9th, we will be holding a tea party fundraiser at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center!

All proceeds will go towards:

■ providing dance lessons at low cost,
■ providing costumes to dancers who don’t own their own yet,
■ purchasing new group costumes,
■ mitigating costume cleaning and storage costs,
■ purchasing learning tools for the studio such as practice swords and mirrors,
■ purchasing marketing material so that we can ensure the future of the group,
■ reducing dancer cost for future trips the group may take!

So, come visit us for tea, cookies, and sandwiches, plus traditional Scottish entertainment, including live music and dance! Also, anyone who wears tartan to the event will automatically be entered in a special raffle! To purchase tickets in advance, either get in contact with one of our dancers directly, click the ‘Register Now’ button on the countdown widget, or click here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Update: thanks to generous donors, possible raffle items now include:

■ Tickets to the Milwaukee Art Museum,
■ Starbucks coffee and mugs courtesy of the Muskego Starbucks,
■ Tickets to German Fest,
■ Tickets to Milwaukee Wave Games for the 2017-2018 season,
■ Gift cards to the Wisconsin Athletic Club and for Milwaukee Food and City Tours,
■ A Lakefront Brewery Beer Box,
■ Tickets to Irish Fest,
■ Milwaukee Admirals ticket vouchers,
■ Horse riding lessons,
■ Party Lite candles,
■ A 60 minute massage from Massage Envy.

Update: Thanks to generous donors, we will now be serving:

■ Shortbread from Walkers Shortbread,
■ Madeleines from Donsuemor,
■ Tea from Rishi Tea,
■ Bread for sandwiches from Breadsmith.

Update: Our entertainment line-up will now include:

■ A dance performance by our own dancers, accompanied by Gary Bottoni of The Billy Mitchell Scottish Pipes & Drums,
■ Small Pipes “muzak” by various members of Billy Mitchell Scottish Pipes & Drums,
■ A Scottish tartan fashion show, showcasing some of the costumes we wear, narrated by Larry McNaughton,
■ Ian Day,
■ A pipe performance by Milwaukee Scottish Pipe Band.

Time
Doors open at 1:00 p.m.
Program starts at 1:30 p.m. and runs until 4:00 pm

Ticket Prices
Adults: $18 in advance, $20 at the door
Children (12 and under): $14 in advance, $15

Location
Irish Cultural and Heritage Center
2133 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53233

This year’s Milwaukee Irish Fest was ambitious for our group as we undertook reviving not one, not two, but three dances for this year’s show! This meant many long nights of dance practice and many sore muscles the next morning leading up to actual event, but based on all the compliments we received, it was well worth the effort! And even though the weather was not always in our favor—we got rained out Friday—, our Saturday and Sunday shows still went as scheduled and without a hitch!

So, thank you everyone who came out in less than ideal weather to come see us dance, thank you Billy Mitchell Pipes and Drums for learning new songs to accompany us while we performed, and thank you all our dancers for your hard work to make this show the best it could possibly be!

As an aside, we’re asking anyone who has any favorite photographs or videos of us from this weekend to either message us directly via our Facebook account or, alternatively, via our e-mail account Social@CaledonianScottishDancers.com with the media files as well as your express permission that we can use your media on our Facebook account and/or our website. Who knows, your photos and/or videos may just end up in the slide show below!

We’re already halfway through August, which means it’s time for yet another Irish Fest! Come watch us walk the Festival grounds in the Irish Fest Parade and then perform a medley of Scottish Highland and National dances with original choreography under the accompaniment of the Billy Mitchell Pipes and Drums at the Crossroads Area!

Parade times:

Friday at 6:45 p.m.
Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Sunday at 4:00 p.m.

Crossroads times:

Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday at 6:00 p.m.

For information about ticket prices, parking, and more information about festival activities, visit the official Irish Fest website

Despite a rather rainy start to our first fundraiser for our Scotland trip, we managed to sell almost all that we had planned to sell! A big thanks to all those who came out and supported us by buying our grilled brats and homemade desserts as well as to all our dance group members who volunteered food, equipment, and their Saturday afternoon to make this event happen!