- March 11, 2025
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Officers of the St. Andrew Society of Sarasota are "piped in" by William Howard.
Photo by Lesley DwyerLiz and Dick Thompson attend a Burns Supper every year no matter where they are. Dick Thompson's first supper was in Ontario, Canada.
Photo by Lesley DwyerDavid Shaddock is with Barbara MacMillan. Shaddock is the fourth great grandnephew of Robert Burns.
Photo by Lesley DwyerPhil Miner and Ian Young enjoy the scotch before the meal.
Photo by Lesley DwyerRonald Lee is president of the Saint Andrew Society of Sarasota, and Michael Ward is the president of the New World Celts.
Photo by Lesley DwyerThe master of ceremonies Carl Morris introduces his granddaughter Harper Morris and daughter-in-law Danielle Morris to the Burns Supper tradition for the first time.
Photo by Lesley DwyerKellie Anderson and Mary Lou Morris say they will begin planning for next year's Burns Supper "tomorrow" before this year's event even began Jan. 25 at Palm Aire Country Club.
Photo by Lesley DwyerOver 100 people attend Burns Supper at the Palm Aire Country Club on Jan. 25.
Photo by Lesley DwyerStella Randazzo serves shots of scotch to the guests.
Photo by Lesley DwyerProfessional bagpiper William Howard greets guests outiside the Palm Aire Country Club for Burns Night.
Photo by Lesley DwyerEvery guest gets a shot of scotch to celebrate Robert Burns.
Photo by Lesley DwyerMote Ranch's Dick Thompson can’t remember how many Burns Suppers he’s attended over the years, but he remembered the first one clearly from four decades ago.
“I was in Michigan, and my sister took me to Ontario,” he said. “I hated the food, and it stormed all the way home.”
Things have changed.
This year, he gladly attended the Burns Supper Jan. 25 at the Palm Aire Country Club with about 100 others. The Saint Andrew Society of Sarasota hosted the event.
The more than 200-year-old tradition recreates the supper that friends of Scottish poet Robert Burns served five years after his death in 1801.
Burns wrote the lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne.”
While Thompson didn’t like his original Burns Supper meal of cock-a-leekie soup and haggis the first time he tried it, he returned each year to similar events for the friendships. The suppers also inspired him to take three trips to Scotland and eventually to take a deep dive into his Scottish roots.
“My wife and I traced our ancestors back several centuries,” Thompson said. “My wife is more Scottish than I am.”
The most Scottish man in the room at the Palm Aire event had to be Burns’ fourth great-grandnephew David Shaddock. He’s the fifth great-grandson of Burns’ older brother Gilbert Burns.
However, Burns Suppers are not only for the Scottish.
“Everybody around the world does it,” Palm Aire resident and emcee Carl Morris said. “I was in the Navy for 25 years. They do it on ships at sea. The British do it, too, and Burns was a Scotsman.”
