Early Beginnings
The first annual Jackson Hole Burns Night was held in 1997. It was held at Kip & Lynn MacMillan’s house, with eight people in attendance, including Jackson Police Chief David Cameron and his wife Sandy, Major General George Larson, executive director of the Jackson Hole Airport, and his wife Jan. A piper from the National Parks performed.
At dinner that night, David Cameron conceived of the idea of hosting a Jackson Hole Highland Games festival. Unfortunately he died tragically in a home accident before the idea came to fruition.
Jackson Hole Highland Games
In 2001, David Macfarlane became the first official President of the Wyoming Highlanders. He established it as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It had a flourishing membership and featured events such as Burns Night, St. Andrews Day and Tartan Day activities. David Macfarlane established the first Jackson Hole Highland Games in 2002.
The Games were a success, growing larger each year, with dance competitions, band piping competitions and well known Celtic musical acts performing. A Highland ceilidh was held the night before. These were exciting times for the Wyoming Highlanders but the 2008 economic crisis had a strong impact on the Games’ funding, with various state and regional arts councils eliminating or greatly reducing funds to the Games. At the same time, the core group of volunteers that made the Games happen, had one-by-one been moving away from Jackson. With his own family responsibilities pressing on him and limiting his availability, David decided the 2012 Games would be the last.
GO HERE to see some photographs and videos from these games.
In 2017, Ed Cunningham became the 2nd President of the Wyoming Highlanders joining original board officers David Macfarlane as Past-President, Kip McMillan as Treasurer and Peter Moyer as Secretary. The board was expanded to include Bill Best, Scott Fossel and Susan Brooks.
Ed owned the historic Culloden House Hotel in Inverness, Scotland. The House was prominently featured in the Outlander books and Netflix series. Culloden House was the lodging and battlefield headquarters where Bonnie Prince Charlie lived prior to the bloody and fateful Battle of Culloden. It is estimated that there are 20 millions Scots living worldwide as a result of the diaspora arising out of this single battle.
In 2017, the Wyoming Highlanders adopted the Ammon Scottish Festival – the closest Highland Games to Jackson – providing matching seed money with the City of Ammon for the 2nd annual event. Ammon is located 1.5 hours away, just outside of Idaho Falls. The festival was founded and run by longtime friends of the Wyoming Highlanders, The Teton District Performing Arts.
In 2017, the Board expanded its charitable outreach to include wounded veterans via the Jackson Hole Therapeutic Riders’ V.E.T. program.
Whisky Tasting Event
For the Christmas season, we brought over Stephen Davies, a Scottish Whisky Ambassador from Scotland. He brought six rare and exclusive whiskies for tasting and presentation, paired with food.
Bagpiping Events
We sponsored, along with the Presbyterian Church and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, bagpiping at Easter Sunrise services at top of the gondola.
We co-sponsored with Off-Square Theatre, bagpiping and Scottish dancing as pre-show entertainment before the production of In Thin Air’s MacBeth.
New Beginnings
In 2024, Scott Fossel was elected the 3rd Wyoming Highlanders President and the board was expanded to include Charlie Moyer, Shelly Botts and Lowell Reeve.
Scott Fossel arranged for the beautiful Teton Pines Country Club to host the first Burns Night for the Wyoming Highlanders, a successful 2023 event with a sold out crowd of almost 100.
The 2024 Burns Night at the Teton Pines Country Club also sold out. The event included a fundraiser to support the Parker Felton is a fierce young Highlander and we banded together to help her along her path to wellness and to help alleviate the family’s financial burden of ongoing medical care. $2,000 was raised for Parker and an additional $500 was raised for Teton County Search and Rescue.