After 10 years of Robert Burns festivals in Lawrence, Larry Carter has made the event, well, newer.

For years, the festival held onto more traditional aspects of the event, including long poetry sessions along with haggis and bagpipes.

In 2002, Carter took over the festival and mixed historic ritual with modern Celtic touches.

The festival is still about tradition, Carter said. Not just the tradition of Robert Burns, but the tradition of Celtic life and culture as a whole.

See, the closest most people get to Celtic culture is a cup full of green beer and a silly hat on St. Patrick’s Day, Carter said.

Nonsense, he said.

“That stuff has nothing to do with Scottish culture.”

For him, this yearly celebration of Burns’ life is also a celebration of authentic Celtic culture – food and drink and song included.

Since he took over the fest, every celebration has included more and more Celtic heritage – even the name has changed, now dubbed the Lawrence Scottish Fest, rather than the Robert Burns supper.

Burns is still a prominent part of the celebration, Carter said as he and co-producer Cordelia Brown set up tables before the dinner.

But rather than the hours of Burns’ poetry that filled the past Burns fests in Lawrence, he has filled the event with Burns’ music and songs that better speak to the culture as a whole.

“I thought it went on and on,” he said about the poetry sessions.

Plus, the celebration has modernized since 2002. Fresh-faced, contemporary Celtic musicians have played their own songs during past events, adding layers of modern culture to the typically traditional event.