Hogman-Eh! 2024: It’s going to be lively!
By James Coughlan
Hogmanay, or Scottish New Year’s Eve, has been celebrated since pagan times when the Norsemen marked the winter solstice and the beginning of a new year. Each year in Ottawa the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) offers up our own “Hogman-Eh!” to our members and the public. You don’t need to be Scottish to participate - you just need to like having a good time!
It’s an event for families and people of all ages and backgrounds to celebrate the close of the year with great music, dance, friendly people and Scottish food and drink. It’s the best value in town for a wonderful get-together that’s lively and safe.
This year the event will be at a new location – the Infinity Centre, on Gibford Drive. One of Ottawa’s newest meeting spaces, it is elegant and spacious with a large welcoming foyer. There’s a kitchen with a great culinary team on site. While it is not downtown, the centre is served by four major bus routes (which all connect to LRT stations). And it does offer something that we haven’t had in the past: lots of free parking in the area. There are also four hotels close by some in walking distance - if you’d like to stay the night. This move was necessary, as the Aberdeen pavilion at Lansdowne Park (our home for the past few years) was not available.
Here’s what we have lined up for you this year!
2:00 p.m. onwards – The Hall of Origins. Come and meet community organizations, and explore the genealogy of your clan. Held in the lobby of the Infinity Centre. Cost: Free.
4.30 p.m. onwards - The main ballroom door will open and activities get underway at the Kids’ Zone. Cost: Free for children under 12, accompanying adults are required to pay the entrance fee.
5:00 pm - Local tenor John Young will begin the formal entertainment for the evening singing a medley of treasured Scottish songs. Following John, local Highland Dance schools will demonstrate their students’ impressive talents. Following this, the pace picks up with Cape Breton fiddler Ernie Fraser.
Just before 7:00pm (midnight in Scotland) - The Royal Canadian Air Force pipe band will be making their grand entrance to help everyone count down to the arrival of the New Year in Scotland. The band is celebrating its centennial in 2024, and we are honoured to invite everyone to be a part of that celebration. The pipe band will have their own set around 9:30pm, as well as reappearing to ring in the New Year at midnight.
Also helping us celebrate the Scottish New Year, will be local band Brandy ‘N’ Port who will bring you some of your favourite Celtic songs.
Rounding up the evening, internationally acclaimed band The Devil’s Brigade will be the evening’s headliner. This world class rock band from the US, formerly known as the American Rogues, promises a rockin’ good time with its blistering dance-along Celtic rock.
Of course, no party can be without good food and drinks. Guests have the option of purchasing a food voucher at the door for $25 which will include a tasty main course item and salad, dessert and tea or coffee to be prepared on site by Dhruvees restaurant, whose Asian-style food is familiar to that found at previous Hogman-Eh! events. VIP patrons will be provided a menu from the centre’s on-site kitchen.
Yummy desserts will also be available. The precise food choices are just being planned, and we will update the information on our website very soon, so keep your eye out the full list of options - and to purchase your ticket.
The Hogman-Eh! bar as always, will serve premium scotch whisky, Scottish beer, soft drinks (Irn Bru of course), and a good selection of wines and other refreshments.
We’re set for a great extravaganza! Looking forward to seeing you at this “Infinitely” good time - Hogman-eh ’24!
Ticket prices:
· General Admission - $45 (children under 12 are free)
· Food voucher - $25
· VIP - $75
· VIP optional 3-course meal - $125