Uxbridge Scottish Festival 2026: 30 Years of Pipes in Elgin Park

A Friday night with Mudmen, then a full Saturday of Highland Games, massed bands and heavy events

📍 Get Directions Full Schedule

Thirty years in, Uxbridge still does this properly: Celtic rockers Mudmen on the Friday night stage, then a Saturday of caber tossing, Highland dancers, seven pipe bands and a park full of massed drums.

🥁 Massed pipe bands 🪓 Heavy Games 💃 Highland dance 🐕 Scottish dog breeds

💡 The two days price differently. Friday needs a ticket ($25 in advance, $30 at the gate). Saturday is entry by donation — just show up and give what you can.

Why Go Schedule Friday Concert Saturday Games Admission Essentials Getting There Tips FAQ

✨ Why This One’s Worth the Drive

Thirty years is a long run for a volunteer-driven festival, and Uxbridge has earned it. Elgin Park is the kind of venue that makes this work — 32 acres of grass and trees behind a small Durham Region town, with a bandshell, a pond, and enough open ground that seven pipe bands can march onto the field at once without anyone feeling crowded.

The Saturday is a proper Highland Games. Dancers compete from 9 a.m., the heavy events start after noon (caber, stone, hammer — the strongman side of Scottish tradition that draws a crowd every year), and the massed bands are the moment everyone stays for: every band on the ground, drums and pipes together, twice in the day. There’s a Scottish dog breed exhibition, clan tents, Celtic fiddle and folk acts on the stage between band sets, and Scottish food vendors doing the classics.

And then there’s the Friday, which is a different animal entirely — Mudmen, the Celtic rock band who’ve been touring Canada for two decades, playing a park stage with local craft breweries and distilleries pouring. It’s the loud, boisterous bookend to a very traditional Saturday, and at $25 in advance it’s one of the better-value concert tickets of the summer.

🗓 Full Schedule

Two days, two very different rhythms. Friday is one stage and three acts; Saturday is a rolling programme from breakfast until the closing massed bands.

🎸 Friday Night: The Mudmen

The festival opens the evening before the Games with a full concert in the park — Scottish food, local craft breweries and distilleries, and three acts building to the headliner.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Saturday: The Highland Games

Nine hours of Scottish tradition, all of it for whatever you drop in the donation bucket at the gate.

🥁 Massed bands, twice. Every pipe band on the field together — once at 12:10 pm after the opening ceremony, and again at 5:30 pm to close the day. If you only catch two things, catch these.

🪓 Heavy Games from 12:30 pm. The caber toss, stone put, hammer throw and the rest — Scotland’s strongman tradition, and reliably the biggest crowd-pleaser of the afternoon.

💃 Highland Dance competition from 9:00 am. The earliest thing on the programme and worth setting an alarm for — competitive dancers work through the sword dance, the fling and the rest while the park is still quiet.

🐕 Scottish dog breeds from 12:30 pm. A breed exhibition running alongside the heavy events — deerhounds, terriers and the rest of Scotland’s canine contribution. And you can bring your own dog too.

🍺 Beer garden from 11:00 am, vendors from 10:00 am. Scottish food vendors doing the classics, clan tents, and a licensed garden once the day gets going.

Bands & performers on the Saturday bill

Lockerby Highlanders Pipe Band Cobourg Pipe Band Highland Creek Pipe Band Beinn Gorm Highlanders Uxbridge Legion Pipes & Drums CADRE Drum Corp Seven Hills Fiddle Band Carl Stedmond Susan and Friends

🎟 Admission

The two days work differently, so read this bit before you go.

📋 The Essentials

🚗 Getting There & Parking

Elgin Park is Uxbridge’s main municipal park, at 180 Main Street South — roughly an hour northeast of Toronto, and an easy run from Markham, Stouffville, Port Perry or Whitby. This is Durham Region countryside, so a car is the realistic option.

🅿️ Use the Elgin Park Drive entrance. This is the one thing to get right. The park’s everyday entrance is on Main Street South, but for festival weekend the car entrance is on Elgin Park Drive. Parking volunteers will be there to wave you into a spot.

🛏 Staying over? The festival keeps a list of local accommodation partners on its Affiliates page — handy if you’re doing both the Friday concert and the Saturday games and don’t fancy the drive home twice.

💡 A Few Things Worth Knowing

🎟 Buy Friday in advance. It’s $25 on Eventbrite versus $30 at the gate. That’s a round of drinks in the difference.

💵 Bring cash for Saturday. Entry is by donation — and a donation bucket works a lot better when you’ve actually got something to put in it.

⛳ Pack chairs or a blanket. Elgin Park is open grass. There’s no fixed seating around the field, and you’ll want somewhere to sit for the massed bands.

🕛 Be on the field by 12:10 pm. The first massed bands follow straight after the opening ceremony, and the heavy games kick off twenty minutes later. Noon to one is the busiest, best hour of the day.

🐕 The dog can come. Leashed, and you clean up. Worth knowing, because most festivals say no.

Thirty Years, Still Volunteer-Run 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Saturday’s entry is by donation precisely so nobody’s priced out, and every dollar goes back into the next festival. The organizers are also always looking for volunteers — reach them at [email protected].

❓ Common Questions