Those who love Scotland will be cleaning their bagpipes and looking for their kilt, with only five sleeps until they gather in Rosalind Park for Scots Day Out.
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But those bonny lads and lasses who cannot wait until Saturday will be able to celebrate Scotland’s culture days earlier.
On Thursday and Friday ten short films will make their Australian premiere at Bendigo’s Central Deborah Gold Mine.
Scots Day Out director Chris Earl said the films were first shown at the Edinburgh Short Film Festival and had been specially selected for the movie showcase.
“The films capture contemporary and creative Scotland, He said.
“Very much like Bendigo, Scotland has a rich tapestry when it comes to creativity.”
“We’ve got a bit over an hour and a half of short films. Each has great story lines. Some are very warm, others are very dramatic.
“There are also quirky films. Scots are known for a quirky sense of humour.”
Mr Earl said festival organisers believed celebrating contemporary culture went hand in hand with honouring Scotland’s traditions.
“And that’s important because cultures evolve over the generations and centuries,” he said.
Saturday’s celebrations in Rosalind Park
“There’s a great line about Scotland: that ‘it’s far more than tartan, bagpipes and haggis’.”
On Saturday the focus will shift to Rosalind Park, with a free community event complete with bands, clans and dancers.
Mr Earl said many performers, specialist stallholders and clan organisations would travel to Bendigo from all over Australia.
“We have highland dancers who are travelling from as far away as Cairns.
“If you think about that, it takes them as long to get to Brisbane as it then does to get from Brisbane to Melbourne. Then they’ve got to come up to Bendigo.
Imogen Brough will head a diverse line-up of traditional and contemporary music on Ceilidh Corner in Rosalind Park.
The Geelong-based Celtic songstress shot to national fame in 2013 when she was mentored by Ricky Martin on Channel 9’s The Voice.
Other performers include Bendigo’s Sing Australia Choir, the Emu Creek Bush Band, Celtic harpist Meryl Wilkinson and members of the Celtic Piping Club.