Marketgoers fire up to mark Burns Night

ATTENDEES at Saturday’s Ballarat Farmers Market included a group of community members in kilts, marking Scotland’s Burns Night.

Burns Night occurs each year on 25 January and celebrates the country’s national bard, Robert Burns.

The night traditionally includes a supper with haggis, neeps, tatties and sometimes a dram, or glass of whiskey.

Market manager Steve Burns thought it would be fun to celebrate the occasion, with his father going by the same name as the famous poet, Robert Burns.

“They have what they call a Burns supper and depending how into or not people are it can be quite a big affair,” Burns said.

“I am a Burns and my dad’s name happens to be Robert Burns so I’ve been aware of Burns Night.

“I just twigged the other day that this market is on Burns Night.”

The market manager always wears a kilt to the market and said it is a way to express his individuality and be identifiable to stall holders.

He also recommends wearing a kilt on a long-haul flight and said they are very comfortable.

“It has a practical benefit because when I’ve got new stallholders or enquires, all anyone down the front needs to say is, ‘just go find Steve with the kilt’,” he said.

“We kind of live in a bland world where everything is just whatever you get from a chain store so it’s great to see individuality and it’s great to see aspects of national dress.

“I also love that I can wear a kilt as formal attire so a bloke can wear a dress to a formal event.”