SFU’s Second Annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival
Event combines SFU’s multicultural heritage with a unique take on Robbie Burns Day

Burnaby, B.C. –  Simon Fraser University’s second annual Gung
Haggis Fat Choy Festival is one of the most anticipated events of the
winter semester. Taking place on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in
Convocation Mall, the festival combines the traditional Scottish
holiday of Robbie Burns Day with a multicultural twist, bringing
together the student body, staff, and lower mainland community for an
exciting day of competition on Burnaby Mountain.

Beginning at 10:30am, with an introduction to Human Curling, the day
will be action packed with a wide variety of events and performances
taking place until 2:30pm. From 'Dragon Cart' Races to a Haggis Eating
competition, to performances by the Kung Fu Club and Celtic Dance Club,
there will be lots to see and do up on the hill.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy began as Todd Wong’s unique take on traditional
Robbie Burns day celebrations at Simon Fraser University. As a student
in 1993, Wong began to incorporate those two traditions when he was
asked to help organize SFU’s Robbie Burns day and agreed to wear a kilt
to the celebrations. Wong thought it odd at the time, that he a
fifth-generation Chinese-Canadian was asked to done a traditional
Scottish kilt.

That experience got Wong thinking of other ways he could unite the
university’s large Asian culture with its Scottish heritage. In 1998,
Wong held his first Gung Haggis Fat Choy event, a dinner with friends
that featured interesting takes on the food of both cultures (including
haggis!). That dinner has doubled in size every year, to now where
hundreds of people every year pack restaurants to enjoy the Gung Haggis
festivities. In 2005 the event came full circle, as Gung Haggis Fat
Choy returned to SFU’s campus as the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival, a
different take on the traditional highland games.

“Since my first participation in SFU's 1993 Robbie Burns Day
celebrations,” I have enjoyed putting a multicultural spin on the old
traditions,says Wong, recently featured on BBC Radio Scotland. “It has
brought a new and greater appreciation for both myself and the people
who come into contact with Gung Haggis Fat Choy, now in its many
incarnations as a dinner event, a dragon boat team, a CBC television
performance, a First Night music performance, and now as the SFU Gung
Haggis Fat Choy Festival.”

Full event schedule and team registration details attached.

Courtesy:

Scott McLean
Media Relations Coordinator
Simon Fraser University
Recreation & Athletics
Phone: 604-291-4057
Fax: 604-291-4922
Cell: 604-505-5519
Email: srmclean@sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University Clan
Pride – Passion – Tradition

Sue Hatten
Camps and Instructional Programs Coordinator
Recreation & Athletics
Simon Fraser University

Phone: 604-291-5434
Fax: 604-291-3425

This 2nd annual event, blending Robbie Burns' Day and Chinese New Year
is set for THURSDAY, JAN. 25th from 10:30am-2:30pm in CONVO MALL. New
this year – Human Curling, Chopstick Structure Building AND attempting
to set a record for the largest number of people eating HAGGIS at one
time.