Lochcarron introduce the Smithsonian tartan.

Lochcarron at The Smithsonian

Lochcarron of Scotland were privilaged to take part in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington DC  in June/ July in which Scotland were featured along with Mali & The Appalachaine area of the USA. 

The opening ceremony featured a Pipe Band, African drums, Blue Grass music, songs and speeches from politicians including the Mali President and the Scottish Minister of Culture, Frank Macavitie, who was wearing a kilt in the new Smithsonian tartan created for the occasion. This was followed by a VIP lunch on the balcony of one of the museums surrounding the mall that housed the festival. This was all in 90+degrees which required consumption of about a gallon of iced tea.

Later in the day Alistair Buchan, our Export Club vice captain, gave his first seminar on the Narrative Stage describing the tartan side of our business. The three sessions he was involved in proved quite lively and enjoyable, as they took the form of an interview including questions from the audience. All of us were pleasantly surprised by the massive interest in our stand, shown not just by exiled Scots but by a complete cross saction of Americans and overseas visitors (which included a very surprised tourist from Clovenfords!)

The second day involved Alistair in a short talk to the media at a Visit Scotland luncheon which involved promoting our visitor centre and the beauty of the Borders, for once in an air conditioned restaurant.

For the first 4 days there were 5 of us dealing with the enquiries on the stand, our tour guide Alwyn Johnstone, Kate Purdy one of our daeners, Ritchie Douglas a weaver, and Hilary Buchan our USA warehouse manager. All being kept very busy. This reduced to three for the second 5 days, covering the 4th July holiday and the busy week end. How they managed to cope is a wonder. Kate Purdy certainly would not get a chance to do much darning. Fortunately the three were well chosen for possesing the 'gift of the gab'.

As you will see, we managed to present the Smithsonian Tartan Certificate to the Minister for Tourism & Culture and then to Nancy Groce who was the Smithsonian Curator in charge of the Scottish section,(we had planned to have the Minister to present it to Nancy but the timing didn't come off.) Nancy was thrilled to receive the framed certificate which was then displayed to a delegation from the US Congress who were lunching at the festival.

All in all, it was a great experience for us all and quite a feather in Lochcarron's cap to be recognised by The Smithsonian Institute and consequently also by the Scottish Executive.Our New Smithsonian tartan when eventually discovered in the marketing tent proved to be an outstanding seller.