What gets you to walk in the gate?

[CMcG]

A.) I am a haven't been yet, but would like to.

B.) Why would I go? To enjoy a cultural event with people of similar interests and background.

As far as the eponymous games themselves go, I'm especially interested in seeing some Highland backhold wrestling. It seems that the athletics are just one of many attractions though... at least in the programs of the games that I have looked into.

C.) Some of my favourite things are apparently well represented at Highland games but the top three would be: kilts, pipes, and beer.

[eagle43172]

1. Are you a regular Highland Games attendee
I have been going to the “local” games here in Texas (Salado, Arlington, Houston) more or less regularly since around 1990.

2. Why do you go?
Sometimes I wonder.
I have been an officer in my clan society and always enjoyed the comraderie and being with others of Scottish heritage. In the past few years the “Highland” aspect in parts of the games has been slowly disappearing, and I find it less and less enjoyable than in the distant past. While the piping, dancing and sports scream “Scottish!”, and the clan tents are still there, the vendor midways and music venues have changed. Now the music tends to lean “celtic” rather than traditional Scottish. I was walking to the vendors at Arlington this last June and heard a woman start singing “Foggy Dew”, a ballad of the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. While I like Irish folk music, it seemed quite odd to me to hear that at a Scottish festival, especially when one realizes that if there were Scots in Dublin that Easter they’d be shooting at the Irish, but I digress.
The vendors are also disappointing. Used to be several kilt makers and lots of Scottish “stuff”, now it’s almost impossible to find much other than OTR PV kilts and black sporrans. Not that there's anything wrong with these, but at the last games I went to you could buy aluminum siding for your house, hippie style woman’s clothes, walk-in bath tubs and any number of “Dungeons and Dragons” style swords, but a very limited amount of Scottish ware.

3. What are your favorite three things to do at the Games?
Man the clan tent, watch the sports/dancing/piping, Check out the vendors to see if things are changing. It's also fun to see the many interpretations of Scottish attire present. Somtimes I even get good ideas!

[Tony]

a) once or twice a year
b) chance to wear a kilt and partake of c)
c) Meat pies, slight chance of Irn Bru, listening to bagpipes

[Alan H]

GGGP has made a pointk, I haven't answered my own questions!

I'm a 'regular" I go to between 4-10 Highland Games a year, have done so for 6-7 years and I'm on the Board as the Athletic Director for a Games here in Nor Cal.

What got me in the gate at the beginning was meeting up with my X Marks friends, and seeing kilts.

What gets me in the Gate now is A.)Athletics B.) Friends (other than athletes) C.) shopping

I am always curious how my friend Piper George has done in his piping competitions, but I've actually only heard him play twice. I never go see pipe bands, and never go see dancing in any form. I DO visit the vendors, but hardly ever buy anything!...though I did pick up an off-the rack kilt at Monterey this year. I eat lunch and drink beer, of course, but I don't GO to the Games for that.

[GoodGirlGonePlaid]

@AlanH
...your Nasga informal survey analyis...

LOL!!!!
Yup, guess I'm the only chick that owns up to it.

(but thanks for keeping me anon, THEY know my real name)

[Thomas H]

I go every chance I get and would go everyday .
I have OCD and Highland games are my Obsisson .

I love everything about the games But the beer and whisky- As I do not drink

The games are the one time I can wear a Kilt in Georgia with out all the stearing and pointing, which I don't mind anymore.

I love the Highland Games ,mosty for all the Fellowship with friends and family.

I enjoy it even more ,now that I have a Clan- (Ferguson )
I plan my whole year of Vacations around the Games in the Southeast.

If there were some events in Georgia that were Scottish other then the games I would go to them too

[Lyle1]

A. I attend two games regularly, and my wife and I have agreed to attend a third next year, by skipping a function that always conflicts with that game. Now that travel is easier for us, we are also looking at other games, particularly those that are in parts of the country where family reside.

B. I go for the general atmosphere and to meet several friends that also attend. In fact, while talking with a friend who is involved with one of the games, I had to admit that for that event, meeting up with my friends was the major draw. I do wish that the athletic events were given more attention and that the commentary for the athletic events included more information for the uninformed.

C. I particularly like the music, the food, the kilts, and, yes, the vendors. I agree with Father Bill, though, I am looking for things I can’t find everywhere else, particularly since most of the vendors have to jack up their prices to cover the surcharge collected by the organizers. I bought a sporran at a game this summer, then saw it on the vendor’s website when I got home, for $50.00 less. It was still worth it though. It was only in person that I could see the detailing that drew me to the sporran; the sporran did not show well at all in the website photograph. On the other hand, I passed on a few things that I knew I could order from the vendor’s website for less money, later.