Paying respect to Robert Burns, and having fun

Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore has a thing for Scottish poet Robert Burns.

In fact, she and her Scottish husband, Scott Akehurst-Moore, are hosting the second annual Burns Night this month at her restaurant and market in Concord.

The couple, who met in college in the UK, moved to Massachusetts for grad school, and attended the Burns Night at the Hampshire House in Boston for 10 years or so to revel in the cultural event.

“It gives us a chance to get back to what we loved in Scotland,” she said. “Burns nights are a thing there.”

The festivities begin with a whiskey tasting and formal, four-course dinner with all the trimmings, including haggis, a Scottish dish made from offal.

There’s an emcee for the evening who gives a “poem to the haggis” before plunging a knife into it and preparing small plates for the guests to, um, enjoy.

“It’s a little different,” she said. “There are songs, recitations and dancing. It’s just fun.”

After the dinner at her restaurant, the emcee, Alex Rosiewicz, leads the party-goers in traditional Scottish dance, the ceilidh, which Akehurst-Moore describes as akin to square dancing. A fiddler and caller provide the music for the kilt-clad audience.

Scott won’t be wearing a kilt.

“He didn’t wear one in Scotland, and he’s not going to start now,” she said.