Celebrating Labor Day at the Scotch Picnic
- kellison71
- Aug 29
- 4 min read
In tiny, rural Fremont Township on the western side of Saginaw County, Labor Day once signalled a 100-plus year tradition among the farm families of the area--today it’s just a memory.
The Scotch Picnic began as a harvest picnic amongst the 25 or so families in the area who had a particularly bountiful year in 1899. The families, many of which were of Scottish heritage--with names like Smith, McCormick, McLellan, and MacDonald--ate, drank and planned their future in the countryside. Their first goal as a group was to raise enough money to construct a Catholic church.
Based on this simple plan, the Scotch Society was formed to host a yearly Labor Day picnic for the community in one of the nearby farmer’s groves. While the admission to the picnic was free, food, games, races, and athletic events raised money for the young Catholic congregation. Eventually, the yearly picnic festival allowed the group to build the Guardian Angel Mission Church at the corner of Nelson and Brennan Roads. Despite the completed construction, the picnic continued each year to maintain the building—and later give back to the surrounding community.
“The festival started as a small family reunion type picnic celebrating the township’s Scottish heritage. It has since grown into a large festival, that attracts people from all over the county,” noted Bob Horny, who served as President of the Festival for more than two decades (The Saginaw News, September 3, 1990).
The Scotch Picnic bloomed over the decades into a full-fledged single day festival—the longest continuously running festival in Michigan (if not the entire country) when it disbanded in 2012. The picnic included locally famous homemade barbecue chicken dinners and pie while guests were entertained by live music, boxing matches, baby contests, races, and an onslaught of public speakers—many of which were politicians, such as Congressman J.W. Fordney and more recently, State Representative Mike Goschka. The Scotch Society Club, which became a non-profit entity in 1968, purchased a 10-acre parcel of land off Grabowski Road a couple years later, which became the official grounds of the Scotch Picnic thereafter.
The event’s musical entertainment almost always included bagpipers and later polka bands. Some of the most memorable acts included the Harold Mitas Orchestra, Essexville Hampton Cloverettes, George Horney’s Nu-Tones polka band, and J&D Polkalodians.
In later years, Las Vegas-style gaming, bingo, raffles, and kids’ games joined the musical entertainment and dancing. The raffles even included a chance to win a wheelbarrow full of whiskey.
The Guardian Angel Mission Church, which while it still stands, is now defunct. Absorbed into Saginaw’s Catholic diocese, the building was purchased by the Scotch Society Club in 2005 and sold to a private owner a few years later. While the building continues to be privately owned, the history of the Catholic families that constructed it remains through the ornate stained-glass windows that each purchased to adorn the building.
The Scotch Picnic, which once boasted upwards of 4000 attendees, is also defunct. In 2012, the picnic was cancelled and never revived. After 111 or so years, the Scottish descendants and festival volunteers alike had both dwindled in Fremont Township.
This Labor Day, the Castle Test Kitchen invites you to take a break from labor, celebrate the harvest, and raise a pint to your past.
The Recipe: Homemade Potato Salad
While the CTK religiously researched what was served at the Scotch Picnic and hunted for a recipe, like most of these things, the exact details of much of the meal were a closely guarded secret—or did not rely on a recipe at all, but rather, by taste and texture; as a result, we are presenting a family recipe variation on potato salad that sounds similar to the Scotch Picnic side.
Our research indicates that the Scotch Picnic’s famous chicken dinners were served as a half chicken, grilled with a Lawry Seasoning and a secret spice blend and kept moist while grilling with a liquid butter alternative, Whirl. Sides included homemade potato salad, (Miracle Whip, boiled eggs, salt, pepper, and radishes), baked beans, a roll, and various homemade pies.
Ingredients:*
5lb Idaho Potatoes (or potato of preference)
1-2 Cups Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
5 stalks Celery or radishes, diced
Half a large Red onion, diced
5 Eggs
Yellow Mustard to Taste
Salt & Pepper to Taste
Directions:
All quantities are to taste and preference. Adjust as needed.
Begin by scrubbing the potatoes and peeling (or being lazy like we were and using red skin potatoes) and dicing into a large 2-2.5" dice. You want the potatoes large enough that they won't break down too much when stirred into the salad. Place potatoes into a large dutch oven with 5 eggs. Cover in cold water and set on the stovetop to bring to a low boil.
Boil 10 minutes and remove eggs to a separate bowl to cool. Continue boiling potatoes until soft, but not breaking apart, another 5-10 minutes. While potatoes cook, dice up red onion and celery or radishes.
Strain potatoes and run cool water over until mostly cool. put into large bowl with onions, celery, peeled and diced eggs, Miracle Whip (add a cup to start and more as needed), yellow mustard (I used about 3 Tablespoons, but measure with your heart), salt and pepper. Use plenty of salt--that's a lot of potatoes.
Stir gently until completely combined and covered in salad dressing. Chill until ready to serve. Best served very cold.
CTK Notes:
-Special thanks to Dana MacDonald and Hemlock Friends and Neighbors for sharing their memories and photos for use in this post.
