The St. Andrew Society of Maine will present the 38th annual Maine Highland Games and Scottish Festival this weekend at the Topsham Fairgrounds.

The event features traditional Scottish music, food, drink, athletic competitions and dancing.

“It’s going to be a fantastic games this year,” said George Pulkkinen, official piper for the St. Andrews Society who has been involved in planning the games for nearly their entire 38-year run. “People have worked really hard on planning this all year.”

A gathering Friday evening at the fairgrounds will kick off the event and is free to the public. Folks can expect a fire, music, dancing, story-telling and fresh stew and bread made onsite.

“It will be a Celtic party,” said Pulkkinen. “Some of Saturday’s entertainers will be preforming, singing and dancing. Just a fun time, and a great preview for the upcoming games.”

Festivities on Saturday will begin at 8 a.m., with a formal opening ceremony taking place at 10 a.m.

“The opening ceremony will be the highlight of the day,” said Pulkkinen. “There will be seven or eight bands playing together in a massed band scenario. When you get all those pipers and drummers together, the results are extraordinary.”

Throughout the rest of the day various Scottish competitions take place, including stone put, heavy hammer and caber toss, where contestants will toss wooden poles that weigh anywhere from 100-180 pounds. There will be dancing competitions for both young and old, border collie presentations and bag pipe playing competitions, where Vera Maheu of Waterville will be competing for the fifth year in a row.

“We play piobaireachd, which is a very specific type of traditional Scottish music that you wouldn’t normally hear,” said Maheu. “It starts with a ground that you build on with each variation, and is usually quite long. It’s very difficult to play and hard to memorize.”

Maheu started playing bag pipe eight years ago at the age of 40. Thanks to a sponsorship from the St. Andrews Society, she now has a personal instructor and travels to a bagpipe school in North Carolina once a year. But Maheu said competitions like this one are the best way to test her progress.

“It’s nerve-wracking being up there, but you get a lot of feedback from the judges,” Maheu said.

There will be food tents and private vendors selling a variety of goods, and Byrnes Irish Pub of Bath will have a beer tent for those who get thirsty out in the heat.

“We have a new feature band playing this year, too,” said Pulkkinen. Rathkeltair will take the stage at 2 p.m. and serenade the fairgrounds with traditional celtic music with a rock ‘n roll edge.

“I just hope that anyone who hasn’t been to a festival like this comes and checks it out,” said Pulkkinen. “It’s really going to be a great day.”

Tickets to the Maine Highland Games are $20. Visit mainehighlandgames.org for more information.

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com