Dixon’s fairgrounds will look and sound like Scotland on Saturday, when the clans — and others — gather for the annual Scottish Games.

“The Games feature a slice of Scottish life for guests to learn about and sample,” said Philip Venable, spokesman for the Dixon Scottish Cultural Association.

While some will come in everyday attire, Venable said the event gives others a chance to display their Highland gear — kilts, sporrans and sgian dubh, a small, single-edged ceremonial knife — as part of the Games’ pagentry.

Those attending will get a chance to buy Scottish foods and beverages as well as arts and crafts items. Pipers and pipe bands will play traditional Scottish tunes, to which dancers will perform.

Among them will be the Black Eyed Dempseys, who take Celtic music and blend it with rock and roll, Venable said. Avalon Rising, from Oakland, also blends rock and Celtic music, but adds medieval tunes to its repertoire. Flask, from Mendocino, will perform more traditional songs.

But Scottish music also means bagpipes, and Games organizers have called on the City of Sacramento Pipe Band, the Prince Charles Pipe Band, the Stuart Highlanders and the Ripon Police and Fire Pipe Band to present that authentic sound.

Bagpipes have been associated with Scotland for hundreds of years. Though the pipes were used to provide music for dancing, accounts from the 1500s indicate they replaced trumpets on the battlefield, and during that century marches, battle tunes, salutes and laments were composed for playing on pipes. By the 1600s, several Scottish families became known as piping specialists.

A growth in native folk music and dance forms spearheaded a resurgence in the unusual instrument, which has been used recently in rock, hip-hop and even classical music by such artists as Paul McCartney, Rawlins Cross, Peter Maxwell Davies and the metal band Grave Digger.

Those who are curious about their family’s Scottish clans can hear Lauren Boyd McLaughlan, president of the House of Boyd, president of the Scottish Information Society and past president of the Marin County Genealogical Society, speak about Scottish genealogy.

Specialists will be at the fairgrounds to help others determine if they have any clan ties.

“We’ll have about 40 to 50 clans represented,” Venable said.

Clans are family associations, and many have their own tartan patterns of stripes and bars and colors developed by weavers of various districts that date back more than 200 years.

In addition to clans are septs, derived from families who looked at their district’s clan chiefs as their leader and protector.

Expected to be represented at the event are members of the Boyd, Campbell, Cumming, MacDougall, Douglas, Farquharson, Gregor, Keith, MacKintosh, MacLaughlan and MacLeod clans and Herd family.

Also attending will be those of the Bruce clan, with ties to the famous Scottish hero, Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland and a noted warrior who lived from 1274 to 1329.

As an earl, Bruce supported the Guardian of Scotland, William Wallace, in the revolt against England depicted in the movie “Braveheart.” Bruce continued Scotland’s war for independence until Edward III renounced England’s claim to that country.

Venable himself is a member of Clan Wallace, and that clan will be represented, as will the Mother Lode Scots and Shamrock Club of Sacramento.

Central to any Scottish Games are the games themselves. They date to about 1100, Venable said.

A Scottish king, Malcolm, realized he needed to develop tests to see which of his soldiers were the most fit to carry messages around the kingdom.

“He wanted the biggest, baddest, strongest soldiers,” Venable said. Malcolm’s challenging tests have been handed down through the centuries.

Competitors will see who can throw a 10-point stone the farthest; who can throw a hammer — another rock attached to a chain —the farthest; and who can carry a pair of 25-pound, handled stones the farthest.

Among the best-known of the game challenges is the caber toss. Competitors hoist a 16-foot pole about the diameter of a telephone, then must throw it so it turns end over end and lands as close to the “12-o’clock” position as possible.

This year’s games include shinty and rugby matches as well.

The Scots, like most Celtic people, are known for poetry, song and dance. To highlight those arts, the Dixon Scottish Games will have a special party called a Ceilidh, pronounced “kay-lee,” at no additional charge, Venable said.

Bands, dance groups, poetry reciters and audience members will be welcome to participate as the party’s entertainment, which Venable said can resemble an enjoyable jam session.

The Dixon Scottish Cultural Association has invited the award-winning author T. E. Watson to the event as well. He will sign his book and lecture at 1 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. in the Vendor Hall.

Aspiring writers who attend his lecture may bring a sample of their writing, no longer than six pages, for Watson to review and discuss for five minutes. Those interested may reach him by email at tew@tewatsononline.com.

Visitors will see animal and living history exhibits. Children will have the chance to ride ponies and participate in their own version of games, such as the bean bag toss and a passport adventure, for which they may win prizes.

The Dixon Scottish Games began in 2001, to provide Solano County enthusiasts with an event that was closer than the games that take place in Sacramento and Pleasanton, Venable said. The city’s fairgrounds was a logical choice — Dixon originally was named for Thomas Dickson, a man of Scottish descent who donated 10 acres for a railroad depot. The railroad companies returned the generosity by misspelling the city’s earlier name, Dicksonville, as “Dixon” on one of the first shipments there.

The Dixon Scottish Games and Gathering will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Dixon Fairgrounds, 655 South First St., Dixon.

“There’s the pageantry of the opening and closing ceremonies, and a wee bit more fun for the entire family,” Venable said.

Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for those 9 to 17 and older than 62. Those younger than 9 and active military with identification will be admitted free of charge. A barbecue dinner will be sold at the Ceilidh for $12.