BY BRANDY TEMPLETON
The annual Burns Night at The Historic Sharpe House will have a special meaning this year.
The yearly celebration, which honors Scottish poet Robert Burns and includes traditional Scottish foods and music from Celtic Sessions, will be held on Saturday, January 18, at the Statesville Civic Center.
The fifth annual event is dedicated to the late Judge Robert A. Collier, who passed away September 8, 2024.
“He loved his heritage and did a great deal of work keeping the traditions and history alive,” explained Site Manager Keith Rhyne.
Tickets are still available for the event, which is open to the public. From 6 until 10 p.m., guests will enjoy a wonderful evening featuring bagpipes and drums.
Guests will enjoy traditional foods catered by The Smoke Pit with desserts from Crowning Events.
There will be hors d’ oeuvres of fruit and cheese, mincemeat tartlets, mini Scottish eggs, and spinach stuffed mushrooms, while sipping spiced cider, a glass of wine, or a cocktail before dinner.
The buffet-style dinner features traditional Scottish foods, including haggis (traditional and vegetarian) prepared by the Scottish Gourmet, Highland Beef, roasted salmon, Howtowdie Baked Chicken, Howtowdie stuffed Portobellos, Neeps and Tatties, Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw, whiskey-glazed carrots and parsnips, Black Pudding, and White Pudding.Vegetarian options are also available.
Crowning Events’ dessert offerings include Bread Pudding with whiskey sauce and whipped double cream, Tipsy Laird, Dundee Cake, and Peggy Hastings Sanford’s Famous Shortbread.
The popular event has received much attention, including coverage in the January 2024 edition of Our State magazine and other publications.
The Scotland Shop, a business in Scotland with a store in New York, has brought attention to the Statesville event. The business recently published an article on how Burns Night is celebrated around the world, including The Historic Sharpe House event.
“Not only have we been recognized on the state level, but now we’ve been featured globally,” Rhyne exclaimed. “They were so impressed that they are even offering our guests a discount and giving a percentage of sales to our foundation.”
Rhyne is meticulously preparing for the event to make it as authentic as possible.
“It’s a night to celebrate,” he said. “We are keeping our ancestry alive by maintaining the traditions.”
Tickets
Tickets are available HERE.