COME CELEBRATE ALL THINGS SCOTTISH!

Join us November 13-15, 2026 for the 65th Scottish Gathering and Highland Games!  A 3-day event filled with the skirl of the bagpipes and the wearing of the tartan!

Bagpipes and Drums! | Highland Dancers! | Scottish Athletics! | Men in Kilts! | Colorful Clan Tents! | Shopping, food and fun!

Tickets to events and the Gathering can be purchased in advance online (Now Available). You may also purchase tickets at the gate. Remember, children 5 and under are free.

The weekend begins on Friday evening with the Calling of the Clans at 6:00 pm on the Salado Creekside just north of the Museum building. This is a solemn torchlit ceremony that recreates the coming together of the ancient Scottish clans to fight with Robert the Bruce for Scotland’s freedom in 1314 at Bannockburn.

Following the Calling, a Welcome Social and Buffet Supper ($20) will be held at the Venue – 220 Royal St. Salado, TX. Visitors can also attend the Friday Night Cèilidh where a traditional Scottish Band will lead an evening of family-friendly dancing with the Austin Scottish Country Dance Alliance. Tickets available online or at the door.

On Saturday (9am – 6pm) and Sunday (9am – 3pm), join us at the Barrow Brewing Company and Inn on the Creek to enjoy all things Scottish (Weekend Pass: $25 adult/$15 child).

We are proud to recognize the many public service organizations that honor fallen service members by featuring their bands at the 65th Salado Scottish Gathering!

• Clan Village … the largest gathering of Scottish Clan tents in Texas where Clan members share information about Scottish history and genealogy.
• Scottish Heavy Athletics; Highland Dancing; and Bagpipe and Drumming competitions.
• Scottish singers and musicians on the Entertainment Stage.
• Bonniest Knees, Scottish Shortbread, and Bonniest Beard contests.
• Variety of Celtic goods, food and beverages.

OPENING CEREMONIES begin at 12 noon Saturday with a Band and Clan Parade from South Main and Thomas Arnold (Pace Park) into the grounds followed by presentations and piping on the field.

Additional Sunday events include:

• The Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan – a traditional devotional service in which family groups carry banners of their family tartans and ask blessings on the families.
• Scottish Dog Parade and Contest 
• Scottish Country Dance Demos
• Children’s Highland Games
• Scottish Sheepdog Herding
• Keg Toss

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN SALADO

FOR THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS

AND A CELEBRATION OF ALL THINGS SCOTTISH!

The program will include an audio-video presentation, live music and song, and trail drive artifacts such as cowbells, branding irons, a cowhide, steer skull or other cowboy related items. The program is free and open to the public. Donations to support the museum and its programs are always appreciated.

“Sadly, the historic Texas Longhorn is being bred out of existence,” Sharp says. “Today these cattle are on the critically endangered list. Through our preservation efforts and educational programs, we strive to impact saving these iconic animals.”

Sharp will tell the history of the State of Texas Longhorn Herd as well as the major impact of Texas Longhorns during the great cattle trail drives. Miller will play and sing the old songs that cowboys sang while driving cattle along the Chisholm Trail (which passed through Salado).

Frank Sharp is the lead educator and historian for the Official State of Texas Longhorn Herd with more than 40 years’ experience as an educator, rancher, and nationally recognized authority on the history, preservation, and genetics of the historically correct Texas Longhorn.

Ed Miller is a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, who came to Texas as a young man and made Austin his home. He holds graduate degrees in Folklore and Geography from the University of Texas at Austin. He has led a series of folksong-based historical tours of Scotland and currently hosts the program, Across the Pond, at sunradio.com.

The Village of Salado’s connection to Scotland goes back to its founder, Colonel ESC Robertson, whose Scottish lineage traces directly to Highland Perthshire and Clan Donnachaidh. His father, Empresario Robertson, brought hundreds of families from Tennessee to settle central Texas, many of whom shared his family’s Scottish ancestry. Since 1961 Salado has celebrated its Scottish ties by hosting the Scottish Clan Gathering and Highland Games on the second weekend of November. The Gathering and Games draw regional and national attendance each November and are key to Scottish descendants sharing their culture and history.

Mr. Rivera has researched potential Scottish cities to ally with Salado and narrowed the choice down to the top five. Criteria for consideration included population, geography, industry, history, artisan economies, tourism, and civic vitality. The finalists are: Aberfeldy, Aberfoyle, Culross, Dunkeld, and Peebles. The Salado Museum will host a public vote of the top five cities starting August 22nd during the Salado Founder’s Day Celebration, honoring Colonel ESC Robertson’s birthday. The public will be able to learn about each of these five cities and cast their votes through August 29th when Museum staff will tally the votes.

Mr. Rivera and the Village of Salado will then reach out to the potential sister city to see if they are receptive to the initiative. Salado hopes to create ties to a Scottish city in order to strengthen cultural and historical bonds, develop better international understanding, and collaborate shared issues.

The celebration will begin at 9:00 a.m. in the museum where guests can view a pre-recorded musical trilogy about the Robertson family legacy by renowned Celtic fiddler Colin MacLeod, of Edinburgh, Scotland. At 9:30 guests will follow the bagpiper as he leads us to College Hill to gather around Colonel Robertson’s statue near the ruins of Salado College for a brief memorial ceremony.

The ceremony will include a brief history of Colonel Robertson by Salado Museum Board member Liz Patranella, a memorial, under the direction of Ray Don McIntosh, Family Life Minister at Salado Church of Christ, a formal wreath laying, the playing of Amazing Grace, and a special mayoral declaration by Salado Mayor Jeff Ingrum. 

Returning to the Lucile A. Robertson Event Center at 10:00, guests will join in singing “Happy Birthday” as we cut the cake. Activities will continue with an interactive presentation, history reenactors, and a photo booth. At 11:00, guests will be seated for a live presentation by Mr. Gene Rhea Tucker, Ph.D., Professor of History at Temple College, which will focus on Colonel Robertson’s life and his contributions to Salado and its people.

The Founder’s Day Celebration is free to the public but donations to support our ongoing programs are welcome in person or online. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you at the Museum on August 22^nd.

Thank you to Salado Mayor Jeff Ingrum for reading the Proclamation declaring Salado the Scottish Capital of Texas during the 2026 Founder’s Day Celebration. We look forward to State Representative Brad Buckley and State Senator Pete Flores passing the bill in the 2027 Legislative Session to make this official throughout the great state.

FFriday, July 10, 2:00 p.m.

Lucile A. Robertson Event Center

423 South Main Street

Suggested donation $10 at the door

This unique program, led by Texas historian Kurt Terry and Scottish fiddler Colin MacLeod, blends frontier storytelling, music, faith traditions and cultural exploration from the Scots settlers in Salado across the Southwest frontier. Weaving words and images with live fiddle performances, the program offers a rich and memorable journey into the sounds, stories, and communities of 19th-century Texas and beyond.

“We will follow the movement of people and ideas along frontier routes linking the historic village of Salado with the wider western frontier to reveal how music and faith traveled together to shape the spirit and cultural fabric of America,” says Colin MacLeod. “This includes spiritual traditions that influenced daily life across the Southwest through hymns, fiddle tunes, communal singing, dances and shared gatherings.”

Kurt Terry is a Professor of History at Temple College. He holds a BA in History from Baylor University, an MA in History from Stephen F. Austin State University, and is a doctoral candidate in History at Oklahoma State University. He has given a number of presentations at educational conferences, including a joint session with the Texas State Historical Association. His research into the history of Texas frontier communities adds a special focus to this singular experience in words and music.

Colin MacLeod, known as the Celtic Fiddle Guru, has been playing Celtic fiddle since the age of seven, growing up in Scotland amid a rich family tradition of ceilidhs and communal music-making. Trained to Grade 8 Violin Distinction and having performed with Celtic bands in Australia, he has taught fiddle by ear to students across Scotland, Australia and the United States since 2007. His research into how music shaped the lives of Scottish emigrant communities makes him a natural voice for this program.

Kids History Camp returns to the Salado Museum and College Park this summer, July 13-16, 2026. For more information please email director@saladomuseum.org.

Come to the museum of Salado, Texas, June 1 thru July 25, to experience the all-new Texas America250 traveling exhibit. The exhibit, on loan from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, celebrates the nation’s Semiquincentennial while
highlighting historically significant Texas treasures from the State Archives.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular museum hours.

We are very excited to bring an exhibit to Salado that provides a unique opportunity for Texans to reflect on our state’s role in the American story. Viewing this exhibit is a great way for people of all ages to learn more about Texas’ role in U.S. history and to explore some of the state’s most treasured documents, photographs and artifacts.

 The nation would not be what it has become without Texas
 Texas has a story to tell about its contributions to the legacy of America.
 Texas America250 shows how the state’s people, landscape and innovations helped to develop this country over the past 250 years.

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission invite Texans of all ages to join its 2026 statewide Texas America250 Reading Challenge. For more information on this and upcoming America250 programs, go to www.tsl.texas.gov/america250.

Texas Independence Day is the celebration of the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. With this document, signed by 59 delegates, settlers in Mexican Texas officially declared independence from Mexico and created the Republic of Texas.

Larnce Barker is the President of the Sterling C. Robertson Sons of the Republic of Texas Chapter 22 that meets in Salado. He will be at the Museum to greet people and to relate a brief history of Texas Independence Day and the significant role Sterling Robertson played in establishing the Republic of Texas. He will also explain what is required to join the local chapter of the Sons of Republic of Texas.

In 1825, Empresario Sterling C. Robertson acquired lands grants from Mexico and is credited with bringing 600 families to this area, mostly of Scottish ancestry, to form the first large colony in Central Texas.

In 1859 his son Colonel Elijah S. C. Robertson donated land to a corporation formed to build a college and lay out and sell lots for a town to be called Salado. A statue of Col. Elijah Robertson, in which he is depicted in his Republic of Texas uniform, stands on College Hill just south of the Salado Museum.