The address of the haggis will be delivered at two major Robbie Burns dinners this month in the Tri-Cities.
Edward Mornin, a native of Scotland, returns to Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam) Jan. 18 to host the Maillardville venue’s eighth annual feast honouring the Scottish Bard.
The Celtic music band Blackthorn will be back, too, with fiddler Rosie Carver — a Place des Arts faculty member — entertaining with her husband, Michael Viens and bandmates Michelle Carlisle and Tim Renaud.
The event, which sells out each year, starts with a Scottish-inspired meal at 6 p.m. followed by the concert at 7:30 p.m. At intermission, the haggis will be piped in by Tim Fanning, with Mornin toasting the traditional delicacy.
Blackthorn
Burns’ poem to the haggis can also be heard Jan. 25 — the day of his birth — at the Executive Plaza Hotel (405 North Rd., Coquitlam) when the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band hosts its annual Robbie Burns supper.
A fundraiser for the Robert Malcolm Memorial (RMM) pipe bands, the celebration will see James Neill take over the address this year from Jim Gallacher.
MCed by Coquitlam piper Mike Chisholm, the executive director of the BC Highland Games and Scottish Festival, the supper will also include performances by the Grade 1 SFU Pipe Band — which last year placed fifth for the third year in a row at the 2019 World Pipe Band Championships, under Pipe Major Alan Bevan — and RMM pipe bands as well as other musical entertainment and highland dancing.
Tickets to the Place des Arts’ Robbie Burns Night are $41 (or $21/$16 for the concert only) via 604-664-1636 or brownpapertickets.com.
For the SFU supper at $80, go to sfupipeband.com/society/robbie-burns-dinner.
