Row could bring Tartan Day parade to a standstill

Published on Saturday 12 April 2008 19:37

THE annual Tartan Day parade in New York will have to be scrapped unless the Scottish Government properly backs the event, organisers warned last night.

Ministers are keen to ditch the "heather and haggis" image of the parade, but the modernisation plan has backfired, with New York insiders saying they are "deeply upset and insulted" by the suggestion that Scots see their efforts as a joke.

Key organisers predict they will struggle to find volunteers to help put on the parade in future and the event will have to be cancelled.

They are also angry at the decision by Scottish ministers to refer to Tartan Week as 'Scotland Week'.

The row comes after First Minister Alex Salmond said his approach to the annual event would concentrate less on the "party element" and more on a "hard-headed" focus on forging business. The amount spent on the event by the Scottish Government was also cut.

In 2004 Tartan Week heaped enduring embarrassment on the then First Minister Jack McConnell after he was photographed wearing a pin-striped kilt and Jacobite shirt.

Salmond and Culture Minister Linda Fabiani were among those who visited the States last week for the first Tartan Week since the SNP won power.

The problems appear to have begun in New York, where the Tartan Day parade was held on April 6.

Speaking anonymously, several organisers in the city complained they were cut out of the loop by the Scottish contingent, none of whom bothered to explain the changes which, they believe, were made purely to deflect criticism from the Scottish press about "junketeering politicians".

One source said: "If we had known about the changes we could all have been brand ambassadors for the event. Instead, what's left is a high level of resentment."

Another added: "We're very upset about the unilateral decision to change the name. Alex can call it what he wants but that's not going to change the views of the people here who have spent 10 years trying to make this event really work."

Another organiser said: "The message we were getting was that we don't want to be about heather and haggis. They kept on referring to the Scottish cringe. But if that is so, why did VisitScotland then set up a haggis vendor on the street?"

Members of the New York-based St Andrew's Society were among those believed to be particularly angry after the visiting Scots organised a major function on the same night as their own Tartan Week ball.

The event is now being thrown into doubt by some of the organisers. "Another year like this one and I don't think it can survive," said one.

"We need to come together to work this out for next year. But if we are to keep doing this then it will be a return to Tartan Week and not Scotland Week."

The Scottish Government last night brushed the complaints aside. A spokesman said: "Scotland Week is going to go from strength to strength – it will be even bigger next year – and any suggestion to the contrary could not be more wrong. Off-the-record, negative comments simply have no credibility and no basis in fact."