"We have planned an exceptional day of entertainment and pageantry, and are hoping the weather will be kind to us," said Dr Hume.

"We will have a wet weather plan should that be required, and there will be more marquees than last year,"

"But good weather, which we hope to enjoy on the day, will hopefully see large numbers coming to the village and we have additional free car parking available at Hillhead Road and Bentra Road," he added.

The organisers have been studying long range weather forecasts for some weeks now, and are hopeful of a favourable day for what is the largest Ulster Scots Festival in Northern Ireland.

The Gathering was also at the van of the current revival in Ulster Scots culture, and was established in 1993 – even before the Ulster Scots Heritage Council was formed or the Ulster Scots Agency was established.

Sixteen years on, the organisers say that this year they intend to expand their own knowledge of those who attend the Gathering.

"We have a devised a short survey for visitors to allow us to learn more about them and where they come from, as well as allow them to give us feedback to consider for the future," says Dorothy Irvine, secretary to the Festival committee.

"A survey carried out last year was very useful and we now hope to have a wider ranging one in 2008," she added.

The survey last year showed that 52 per cent of people questioned were visiting the Gathering for the first time and all said they would return.

The majority of them heard about the Gathering through their family or friends (44 per cent), with 20 per cent reading about the event in the local press and 12 per cent hearing details on radio. Almost 10 per cent learned about the Gathering through a distribution leaflet, and the rest heard in a variety of ways.

Of those questioned in 2007, less than half were from the Larne Borough (44 per cent), showing the capacity of the event to bring visitors into the area. The survey showed that many of these were from neighbouring Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey (16 per cent), but 28 per cent were from the greater Belfast area, and around eight per cent were from outside Northern Ireland.

This year the organisers are already aware of a group of visitors traveling from Spain to the Broadisland Gathering. A former Ballycarry man living in Spain has been following details of the Gathering in the Ulster Scot newspaper and contacted the local Community Association for more details. Now he and several of his Spanish friends are flying into Dublin and driving north to attend the Gathering and get a flavour of Ulster Scots culture.

"There will be plenty to entertain all this year's visitors" says co-founder of the Gathering, Mrs.