Fourth annual Robert Burns Supper will give locals a taste of Scotland

IDAHO FALLS – A celebration of Scottish heritage and Scotland’s most famous poet is happening next month at The Waterfront at Snake River Landing in Idaho Falls.

The fourth annual Robert Burns Supper on April 24 will have live music and poetry, along with a traditional Scottish menu that includes rustic roast beef, mashed neeps-and-tatties (mashed potatoes and rutabagas or yellow turnips), roasted vegetables, salad, desserts and haggis (sheep heart, liver and lungs mixed with oatmeal, onions and other spices cooked inside a sheep’s stomach).

Kilts and traditional Scottish attire is encouraged.

This year marks 229 years since Burns’ death and Eric Laing, the organizer of the event, is excited to celebrate with the community.

“Dinner is served while people are listening to music,” Laing tells EastIdahoNews.com. “Trenton Olsen, a Brigham Young University-Idaho professor (with Scottish ancestry) will provide a traditional toast. We’ll have some bagpipes here and there as well.”

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Robert Burns Suppers have been held annually all over the world since the early 1800s. Several years after Burns’ death in 1796, Laing says his friends in Scotland got together to celebrate his life.

Burns is regarded as one of Scotland’s greatest poets, and his poetry and songwriting have touched people all across the globe, a website for the event says. Burns wrote thousands of poems. Among his most well-known works are “A Red, Red Rose” and “Auld Lang Syne,” which is now a song many sing on New Year’s Eve.

Burns was famous for his numerous love affairs and radical political leanings, according to the BBC. Laing says a lot of his work inspired the founding of the United States of America.

“A lot of his thoughts on the freedom of men and their inalienable rights and equality … influenced the beginnings of the American revolution and made its way into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” Laing writes on the event’s website.

Laing, who also has Scottish ancestry, attended a Robert Burns Supper for the first time about nine years ago in Idaho Falls. It was hosted by the Eagle Rock Pipes and Drums.

He knew little about it at the time and wasn’t real interested in going, but he “thoroughly enjoyed” the experience and walked away feeling amazed.

“It’s not just a dinner party or a concert, it’s a celebration of Scottish culture and Robert Burns’ poetry. His poetry really struck a chord in me,” says Laing.

Laing was particularly fond of Burns’ poem, “A Man’s a Man for a’ That.”

The event got him interested in his own Scottish heritage.

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Eagle Rock Pipes and Drums quit holding the event, but a local Scottish band continued the tradition. Laing and his friends had formed a Celtic band the year before called Teton Skye and they were invited to perform at those events.

Eventually, Laing and his band decided to resurrect the Robert Burns Supper in Idaho Falls. They held their first event in 2022, and it’s gotten bigger every year since then.

It’s being held at The Waterfront for the second year in a row and Laing is excited to return.

“It’s a nicer facility that gives us a little more room,” he says.

Regardless of one’s personal ancestry, Laing hopes those who attend get excited to learn about their heritage.

“A lot of people have Scottish heritage. The Scots were scattered far and wide,” Laing says on the website. “I think there’s a real desire for people to get back to their roots and to understand where they come from.”

The Robert Burns Supper will kick off at 6 p.m at 1220 Event Center Drive in Idaho Falls. Tickets are $48 and are available for purchase here.

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