2026 Pat Johnston Memorial Competitions
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Resurrection Lutheran Church
100 West Lochmere Dr., Cary, NC
Highland dance
Judge: Margaret Howard
Piper: Andrew McMahan
Deadline for entries: March 13, 2026
Register for the 2026 Highland Dancing competition
Piping
Register for the 2026 Piping competition
About the competitons
SCOT’s mission is to promote the culture of Scotland and one of our most prominent ways of accomplishing this is by hosting annual competitions in Highland dancing and piping every spring.
While local teachers provide excellent training for the Scottish Arts, the best way to challenge these skills is in competition against others. Each spring, dancers come from all over the East coast to compete in dancing before certificated judges.
For more than 25 years, SCOT has hosted this event, now called the Pat Johnston Memorial Competitions, in honor of Pat Johnston, steadfast matriarch, dance teacher, and SCOT treasurer and founder, who passed away in 2020. We continue her vision of bringing together the finest and most talented Highland dancers from the Triangle and beyond to these special competitions.
Throughout the day, we hold a silent auction and raffle, with all proceeds going to Pat and SCOT’s mission to promote the culture of Scotland in the Triangle. These funds will provide numerous scholarships to students of various Scottish cultural arts, including dancing, piping, drumming, and fiddling.