TOPSHAM

A trip to the Maine Highland Games always provides access to traditional Scottish food, music, dance, athletic competitions and, of course, a landscape full of men in kilts.

For the second time in five years, however, those attending Saturday’s event at the Topsham Fairgrounds have an opportunity to buy a special calendar featuring “celebrity guest models,” most of whom are strategically clad in only their kilts — or anything but.

With a price tag of $15 each, the “Under The Kilt Part 2” calendar for 2013 debuts at the 34th Maine Highland Games on Saturday to raise money for the St. Andrews Society of Maine’s scholarship fund. Proceeds of the games themselves are made available for people undertaking studies of Scottish culture such as dance, music, language, history or industry, kilt-making and weaving — or academic studies in courses reflecting Scottish heritage, all to perpetuate Scottish culture.

One of the guest models, Steve Edmondson, joined the St. Andrews Society of Maine in 2009 or 2010 when he learned of the initial 2008 calendar, and encouraged the organization to do another — an effort that got under way about a year ago. Most of the photographs were taken during the 2011 games.

Edmondson, domestic violence investigator for the Sagadahoc County District Attorney’s Office, is posing with a law enforcement theme in front of a police cruiser door in his “cheesy” aviator sunglasses, a shoulder holster and a badge. Talking recently about this special brand of fundraising, Edmondson said he’d sent a text message to his daughter telling her she now has to call him “Mr. April.”

Other guests include some well-known Celtic performers, members of the band Prydein, Leroy McDonough, the Highland Games athletics director, and making a return is society member Rob Morris. Sue Redwine of Bath again served as project coordinator for the calendar, which is dedicated to her late husband Bruce Cole.

Saturday there are two allotted times for calendar autographs from the individuals featured on the glossy pages — the first from noon to 12:30 p.m. and the second from around 1:15 to 2 p.m. — behind the exhibition hall.

On the cover are a couple of Highland cattle, a traditional Scottish breed developed in the Scottish Highlands and western isles of Scotland, Edmondson said. The duo lives on Tir na Nog farm in Pownal. The red cow is Iona, and the blond creature is a bull named Errol Flynn.

With his own Scottish heritage, Edmondson said that, “My wife (Dotty) and I are fortunate. We’re the photographers, so we go and take the archival pictures. I am thrilled that I get to see all of it, and I think it’s the exposure to all of it that I like so much.”

34th Maine Highland Games

This year’s Maine Highland Games — the largest one-day Highland games in New England — will be held for the third year in a row at Topsham Fairgrounds, according to Edmondson, since relocating from Brunswick.

The event kicks off Friday at 1 p.m. with the third annual Kilted Golf Tournament at Highland Green in Topsham, where all golfers must wear a kilt.

Saturday, gates open at 8 a.m. and events start at 8:45 a.m. with the St. Andrews Pipe Band performance, followed by a Scottish country dance demonstration at 9:15 a.m. and the opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. (posting of colors, national anthems, the welcome, invocations and Flowers of the Forest.)

The massed bands start at 10:30 a.m.; the clan parade marches at 11 a.m. and the band Prydein performs at 11:45 a.m. Other performers through the day include Colin Grant-Adams, Highland Soles, Charlie Zahm, and Alba’s Edge.

The athletic competition registration is from 7:30 to 8 a.m. The first throw begins at 8 a.m. and competitions continue all day. There will be a Highland dancing competition, solo pipe and drum competition as well as a pipe band competition. Other competitions behind the exhibition hall will include the Haggis Hurl at 11 a.m., the Bonny Knees Contest at 12:30 p.m., and the Rolling Pin Toss at 1:30 p.m.

Also included will be reenactors, sheep dogs, harpers, fiddlers and more.

For a full schedule and more information, visit www.mainehighlandgames.org. Directions to the Topsham Fairgrounds, which can be accessed from the Route 196 Coastal Connector, can be found at www.topshamfair.net/directions.html.