Share a national pastime and celebrate Scottish Americans on The Third Annual National Tartan Day with the RoughRiders, Friday April 17th at 7pm at Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco.
Baseball fans are encouraged to wear plaid or even traditional kilts to celebrate National Tartan Day “Texas Style” as the RoughRiders take on the Springfield Cardinals. Accomplished Texas bag piper Jimmy Mitchell www.texasbagpiper.com will be piping-in the 7th inning stretch with “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” on his bagpipes to celebrate to occasion. Fireworks will follow the game.
Special group tickets in “Bullpen or Home Plate” sections are available by contacting Eric Rowley at 972.334.1907 or erowley@ridersbaseball.com. Group ticket rate is $15 and includes game ticket, limited edition RoughRiders hat, All-You-Can-Eat pass and after the game fireworks.
Pre-party festivities are slated from 5 to 7pm at The Irish Rover, www.irishroverpub.com, located within walking distance to the stadium at 8250 Gaylord Parkway in Frisco. The pub offers 35 beers on tap and a menu including everything from burgers to traditional pub grub scotch eggs.
National Tartan Day is an annual day set aside by the U.S. Congress to recognize the contributions of Scottish Americans. April 6th was chosen because it was on that date in 1320 that the Scottish document “The Declaration of Arbroath” was written. This was the model for the United States Declaration of Independence, as well as our own Texas Declaration of Independence of 1836.
Tartan refers to a fabric woven into plaid patterns which represents clans, families or regions in Scotland. A tartan may be designed to commemorate a special event or a person. In old Scotland, the tartan was used for dress as well as banner or flag. The kilt is made in special tartan designs. Because a family or community worked the cloth together, their clothing was made from the same patterns. A person could be recognized by the tartan plaid that he wore.
The Texas Bluebonnet tartan became the official tartan for the State of Texas in 1989.