This past Saturday, Amy and I attended the annual ScotsFestival & International Highland Games XXV at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California as media guests. We have been attending this event for at least the last 15 years and look forward to it each year.

We arrived promptly at 9AM to make a complete day of it. We checked in and then immediately went to our reserved Celtic Cabana, not comped but worth every penny. We had the perfect view to watch all of the Highland Games.

At noon, the annual Grand Parade of Massed Bands and Clans began after the singing of both the United States National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, and the British National Anthem, God Save The Queen.

After the parade, we tried some of the Scottish food that was available. We tried shepherd’s pie, chicken pie, mac & cheese pie, and the Scottish shortbread.

Throughout lunch and for the rest of the afternoon, we watched the Highland activities.

Along with the highland games, there is live music, archery, border collie sheepherding, whisky tasting and so much more!

A couple of years ago, Amy surprised her nephew and his wife with kilts for their twin boys. We love this video of them watching the parade and listening to the bagpipes. So special! Click here to watch the video.

Look at these wee lads watching the Grand Parade at the Queen Mary’s Scottish Festival! They are loving them some bagpipes. #California #travel #Scottish #thequeenmary #kilts #meninkilts #bagpipes #parade #scotsfestival #greatnephews

A post shared by Teresa & Amy – Travel Bloggers (@californiatravelgirls) on Feb 18, 2017 at 12:39pm PST

Last year, Amy’s niece, Stephanie, brought her family to the ScotsFestival with us. We think Stephanie’s daughter enjoyed the Scottish dancing! She has even started to take lessons since attending this event.

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Who’s getting excited about the Scots Festival @thequeenmary this year? We are!!! #California #travel #qm #thequeenmary #scotland #scotsfestival #scottish #scottishfestival #kilts #highlanddancing #familyfun #longbeach #presidentsdayweekend #getyourticketsnow

A post shared by Teresa & Amy – Travel Bloggers (@californiatravelgirls) on Jan 23, 2019 at 5:48pm PST

This year, Stephanie brought her daughter, Beverly, back once again. We thought that she would be excited to see the dancing again but the only thing on her mind was seeing Felicia. As we were walking in, she kept telling Amy and her brother that she got Felicia’s autograph last year. You have to see this video of Beverly cheering Felicia on!

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Go Felicia! Go Felicia! *sream* Do you think my great niece has a favorite athlete at the Highland Games? She even got her brothers to chant with her in support. The best part was when Felicia’s husband came over and asked if Felicia was her favorite and then she chanted for him too, yelling “Go Felicia’s husband!” 😁 @thequeenmary #scotsfestival #thequeenmary #highlandgames #california #travel #longbeach #travelblogger #trip #scotland #kilts #familyfun #gofelicia

A post shared by Teresa & Amy – Travel Bloggers (@californiatravelgirls) on Feb 19, 2019 at 8:27am PST

Felicia and her husband and Mike were kind enough to come over and say hello to Beverly!

This is a video of Felicia last year.

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Get on over here and check out these highland games! Could you do this??? @thequeenmary #California #travel #longbeach #scotsfestival2018 #scottishfestival #highlandgames #familyfun #beautifulday

A post shared by Teresa & Amy – Travel Bloggers (@californiatravelgirls) on Feb 17, 2018 at 11:56am PST

All in all, we had a great time and look forward to attending the Scots Festival again next year.

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About Queen Mary ScotsFestival

For more information about the ScotsFestival, please visit http://www.queenmary.com/events/scotsfestival/

1126 Queens Highway • Long Beach, CA 90802
Information: (877) 342-0738 • Hotel Reservations: (877) 342-0742 • QUEENMARY.COM

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Visiting Queen Mary’s ScotsFestival has become a yearly tradition for us. You can read about our experience at the 2017’s event here, 2016’s event here, and 2014’s event here.

Be sure to follow us this year on our Instagram for event coverage throughout the weekend.

Disclaimer: Amy and I will be attending the Queen Mary ScotsFestival and purchased the Celtic Cabana on our own dime. As always, all thoughts are our own.