The Broadisland Gathering - Ballycarry's Biggest Day of the Year!

The Broadisland Gathering was established in 1993 by Ballycarry Community Association in County Antrim and is the major event on the village's community calendar. It is an Ulster-Scots festival which includes pageantry, children's entertainments, the Auld Ballycarry Fair and many other aspects.

The annual Broadisland Gathering in Ballycarry is the most prominent and successful Ulster-Scots Gathering on the east coast of Ulster.

This year it takes place on Saturday, September 4th and will follow a military theme, highlighting the 60th anniversary of D Day in 1944.
 
One of those who helped plan the D Day landings was Ballycarry general Sir James Stuart Steele, who served with the Royal Ulster Rifles, and the event will also mark the 110th anniversary of his birth.
 
The chosen townland for this year's new banner is Bentra, which had a First World War airship base, then operated by the Royal Navy prior to the formation of the Royal Air Force.
 
The skirl of the pipes will resound across the local area, with a new townland banner to be unfurled for the townland of Bentra, near Whitehead, while Scottish dancing, a Junior Highland Games, vintage vehicles, musical performances, the Riding of the Marches and other colourful events will add to the occasion.
 
The village fair is held on the same day, allowing bargain hunters full rein, while the townland banner parade is the only event of its kind in the British Isles.
 
The Gathering attracted 4,000 visitors last year and featured on a BBC Northern Ireland television documentary.
 
The event takes place in a village first settled  by Scots in the early 1600's, and a location which hosts the site of the first Presbyterian congregation in Ireland, established by Rev. Edward Brice of Stirlingshire in 1613.

The Gathering is intended to highlight the unique Scottish heritage of the village and has attracted visitors from as far away as Western Australia, South Carolina, Canada, Brazil, and Hong Kong. Hundreds of people from the village and surrounding areas take part in a fun family day out and the support of the Larne Borough Council and Ulster-Scots Agency have made it possible to stage the largest Ulster-Scots festival on the East Coast of Ulster.

Unique elements of the Gathering each year include a Common Riding by the Redhall Reivers - local horsemen and women who re-enact the Riding of the Marches so common in the Borders of Scotland - and the Townland Banner parade, the only such parade in Ireland.

There is also Scottish and Irish dancing, vintage vehicles, children's entertainments (which are free), stalls, exhibitions, pipe bands, lambeg drumming and lots more. The highlight of the day is the Broadisland Parade, which has grown in size each year and is a colourful display of village pride.
The Broadisland Gathering is held on the first Saturday of September each year and further details are available from the Community Development Office at Loughside.