ScotFestBC will leave Coquitlam

ScotFestBC plans to move its Highland Games out of Coquitlam, with the 2027 event scheduled for Paterson Park in Ladner. The two-day event is typically held in June.

Executive director Mike Chisholm said Ladner offers the flat space needed for the festival’s future. While the organization values the Lafarge area of Town Centre Park, he said it needs more room for caber tossing, pipe band competitions and the return of stock, or sheep, dogs.

The event typically includes pipe bands, a whisky school, Scottish country dancing, cultural workshops and competitions such as the hammer toss. Chisholm told the Dispatch in 2025 that reduced federal, provincial and municipal funding had made the arrangement with Coquitlam unsustainable.

Coquitlam senior manager of economic development Eric Kalnins said in 2025 that keeping the festival would be ideal. He said the city had consistently funded about 25 per cent of the event budget and described ScotFestBC’s economic and cultural impact as important to the community. Kalnins also noted that Coquitlam, like other municipalities in the region, was consistently being asked for more funding.

The festival’s difficulties in Coquitlam date back at least to 2022, when Chisholm said both the prospect of a grand street parade and ScotFestBC’s future in the city were in limbo.