About 100 people enjoyed some warmth on a cold winter’s night Friday to honour Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns with a supper at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre.

The Burns Supper, which has become an annual event for the Digby Area Board of Trade, featured the poetry of Burns, especially his ode to a famed peasant dish, the haggis.

Peter MacLellan, a Burns scholar during his university days, replaced guest speaker John Buchanan, who was sidelined suddenly by illness.

Master of ceremonies Alex Morrison, reprising his role of a year ago, noted that the second annual supper had about doubled its attendance and filled the centre’s dining room.

“It was a night that would have delighted the immortal bard in whose honour we gathered,” said Board of Trade president Kristy Herron afterwards. “The food was superior, the spirits hearty, the laughter was contagious and the musical entertainment was outstanding.”

The music included the bagpipes of Pipe Major Scott Pollon of Greenwood, French Shore fiddling sensation, 14-year-old Natalie Saulnier, and a kitchen party afterwards with the band ‘Three Sheets to the Wind’.

Last year's inaugural supper followed the return of a board of trade delegation to Scotland looking to strengthen cultural and economic ties.