Somewhere, Robbie Burns is grinning to himself with delight, thanks to the exceptional Robbie Burns Night presented by the Cochrane Pipe Band.

January 28 marked the return to the live event enjoyed by a full house at the Cochrane RancheHouse. 

Formalities began with a solo performance of  Auld Lang Syne by Carol Johnson, followed by a performance by the pipe band, complete with a drum centre. A theatrical Address to the Haggis was performed by Collin Caswell with humourous inserts by Don Ross. There were other festivities later in the evening, including a chance for the audience to participate in Scottish country dance lessons. 

Chair Leslie Deans says they like to change it up a little bit every year.

"Instead of having people sit and watch highland dancers, we got them out of their chairs and gave them a Scottish country dance lesson instead, and it was really fun. I was surprised, probably more than half the room got up to dance."

She says the introduction of whiskey tasting was also a hit and offered a wide array of Scotch whiskeys.

"We were super pleased with the crowd we had," she says. "We had a lot of people come back from other years, but we also had lots of new guests we were very happy to see.

"What we noticed as a pipe band was the amount of people in kilts and dressed in their plaid and Celtic clothes. I've never seen that many kilted men at our event."

She says the evening is a chance for people to experience a Scottish cultural event.

"We do lots of parades, but that doesn't give the whole idea of the culture of Scotland, so we're quite proud and happy to provide that and have our guests all enjoy the evening." 

It marked the return of a premiere night out in Cochrane that has been on hiatus for the last two years. It's also an important fundraiser for the pipe band.