Scottish Weekend
January 29 – 31, 2027
Scottish Weekend
The halls of the Mountain House echo with the sound of bagpipes as the Mohonk grounds transform into the highlands of Scotland! Our Scottish Weekend features award-winning musicians, concerts, workshops, Scottish history, Scotch whisky tasting, the “Address to the Haggis,” Scottish country dance, bagpipe-playing, and kilt-making.
What’s Included
Your stay at Mohonk Mountain House includes access to countless activities and experiences for guest of all ages, including our indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, show gardens, and an award-winning spa. Discover all that Mohonk has to offer during your mountaintop getaway.
Entertainment
Themed Mohonk Signature Events, featuring live music and engaging performances, changing daily
Last Year’s Events Highlights
Program Curator
Caroline Bennett
Caroline Bennett is our program curator and coordinator for Scottish Weekend at Mohonk Mountain House. She hails from the UK and was introduced to Scottish music, song, and dance by her Scottish mother. She is passionate about Gaelic song and the Gaelic language, is a singer, weaver and spinner. She has received gold medals for gaelic song at the Regional Gaelic Mòds and composes original Gaelic poetry and songs. For the past several years, Caroline and her songs have been featured in a series of programs on new Gaelic singers and songwriters presented on the BBC by Gillebride MacMillan, the bard and gaelic consultant for the television series “Outlander”. She has been awarded first prize in the Annual Sister Margaret MacDonell Prize in Gaelic Poetry from the Department of Gaelic Studies at St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and her Gaelic poetry has also been short-listed in the Gaelic Poetry category of the Wigtown Poetry Prize in Scotland, published in an anthology of Gaelic poetry from Cape Breton, and awarded first prize in the inaugural competition hosted by the Gaelic Society of Toronto. Caroline also performs in New York and CT with her group “Caledonia” as well as in Cape Breton. This is the thirteenth year that Caroline has been the program coordinator for the Mohonk Scottish Weekend and she is excited to be working again with such enthusiastic and talented performers..
Performers & Leaders
David McCormick
David McCormick, is originally from Prestwick on the West Coast of Scotland and now resides in Southern New Jersey. He developed a love of Robert Burns from his grandfather and Scottish Country Dance from his mother. David sees his Lowland Scots background as but one part of the rich Scottish tradition of dance, song and storytelling.
Steve Blamires
Steve Blamires is from the Isle of Arran in the west of Scotland where the Gaelic language and Celtic culture are still strong. For the past 25 years he has traveled the world on small expedition ships, mainly with National Geographic, as an historian, international tour guide, and cultural expert. He has several books in print, has appeared on TV and radio on both sides of the Atlantic, and regularly gives presentations at conferences and events. His presentations are informative, relevant and often from a unique perspective. When he is not on the High Seas, he leads small, custom designed group tours to Scotland..
Mike MacNintch
Mike MacNintch has been piping since 1977, learning from PM Avery Head, of the Syracuse Scottish Pipe Band. He later joined the Manchester Pipe Band, under the direction of PM Chuck Murdoch, which is one of our oldest bands, having been founded in 1914. He is the instructor for the Police Pipes & Drums of Waterbury Connecticut, and has worked with the Catamount Pipe Band of Vermont. Mike is the Pipe Major of the Stephen P. Driscoll Memorial Pipe Band of Carmel, New York, and is a founding member of Bagad New York, the only Breton style pipe band in North America. He plays a variety of Scottish, Irish and Western European bagpipes and has been a prominent figure in the revival of Scottish smallpipes in the Northeast. A stalwart of the pipe band scene, Mike has also played at festivals, workshops, dances and concerts for over 40 years. Based in the Hudson Valley, he makes and repairs bagpipes, teaches and performs. Mike leads the Mohonk Pipe Band Ensemble this weekend and is joined by Alex Bartholomew, Dave Wonsey, and Ian Bennett.
The Castle Point Scottish Country Dancers
The Castle Point Scottish Country Dancers are managed by Elizabeth Buonomo and dance in tri-state area branches of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. The ensemble team this year will present both modern and traditional dances. Dancing with Elizabeth this year are Alice Doyle, Hila Lenz, Margaret Mackenzie, Suzanne Paynter, Keith Myers, Peter Sakurai, Ken Saunders and Adrian Velonis. Several of the dancers are certified Scottish dance instructors. All have intensively studied this dance form and share a passion for its grace, intricacy, and pure fun. Elizabeth Buonomo has been dancing Scottish for more than 20 years. In addition to teaching Scottish dance, she works as a psychotherapist and an Alexander Technique teacher. She is delighted to bring her team back to Mohonk.
Patrick Gallagher
Patrick Gallagher is a professional artist, designer, sculptor and printmaker. He specializes in carved decorative architectural artifacts for public, private and spiritual environments. His expertise is in the Book of Kells style of Celtic Art. He has taught Celtic studio art at hundreds of venues including three Summer Celtic Art Workshops at the Oideas Gael School at Glencolumkille in Ireland. Mr. Gallagher is an Adjunct Professor at the County College of Morris. He teaches Sculpture, Three Dimensional Design and Art History. He has a Masters in Fine Arts Education from Kean University. Please visit his YouTube Channel under Patrick Gallagher Celtic Art. For more information: [email protected] and at: www.celtart.com
The Sky Top Highland Dancers
The Sky Top Highland Dancers, named after the iconic lookout point at Mohonk, feature Scottish Highland dancers Kendra Monroe and Emily Ritter. In 2026, Kendra celebrates her 13th year and Emily her 10th year performing during this beloved weekend which is an event they prepare for all year and hold close to their hearts. Kendra is the director of the Monroe School of Highland Dance in Hillsborough, NC, while Emily teaches with the NYC School of Highland Dance and performs with Shot of Scotch NYC, where the two first met in 2015. As certified Highland dance teachers and accomplished premier-level champion dancers, Kendra and Emily are thrilled to share their passion for this demanding and historic Scottish art form.
Highland Grove
Highland Grove Highland Grove celebrates the vibrant music of Scotland. Merging the talents of three accomplished dance musicians, the results range from lyrical to exuberant, stately to driving. Fiddler Mara Shea began playing for Scottish dancing in 1999 in North Carolina and first played at Mohonk as part of Highland Oasis in 2011. Fiddler Rebecca McCallum began playing for Scottish dances in Rochester, NY in 1997, and in 2008 moved to Connecticut where she plays for numerous Scottish dances and balls. Pianist Dean Herington began playing for Scottish country dancing more than thirty years ago in North Carolina, and has played for Scottish balls and workshops across the U.S., in Canada and in Portugal. All three share a passion for the rhythms and melodies of the Scottish Isles.
Ava K. Lamb-Freeman
Ava apprenticed to learn the art of kilt making with Doreen Browning, owner of “Kiltmakers Apprentice “ in Highland, NY. Doreen was apprenticed to Ann Stewart (1938-2022), a renowned kilt maker who is responsible for teaching many kilt makers in the Eastern United States. Ava’s interest in tartan stems back from her first trip to Edinburgh, Scotland , when she was eight years old. Her parents would not let her purchase the expensive clan tartan of her mother’s namesake from a tourist shop due to its expense, and yet the fire was lit. Ava has a background in fine arts and has a BFA from Purchase College Conservatory of Filmaking. She lives in Port Jervis, NY with her three daughters and her husband, Jeremy Freeman, who is a competitive professional bagpiper. Her Kilt Business is called “Lamb’s Kin Kilt Co.
Poor Man’s Gambit
Poor Man’s Gambit was formed in 2015 and hails from Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. The trio has released 3 albums, completed two international tours, and has been noted as an increasingly popular Irish-American group. Steeped in the arts of Irish cultural music and dance, PMG has been presenting a unique cross section of traditional and contemporary repertoire to audiences both stateside and abroad for over a decade. The band draws from Irish folk music’s oral tradition by enhancing the listening experience with backstories and historical anecdotes that bind the music to the culture and people of Ireland. With two multi-instrumentalists in the line-up, and featuring fiddle, button accordion, guitar, bodhran, cittern, both male and female vocals, and dance, the band has been noted for their ability to offer several layers of musical depth in addition to refined musicality.
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