Depressing News on the Games Front

[ctbuchanan]

The Southern New Hampshire Highland Games stopped two years ago, their fate was sealed by several years of bad weather and large losses I believe. The Western Massachusetts Games in Greenfield canceled last year out of fear of the economy I think and did not return this year.

But Rhode Island moved from May into the June slot Western Mass vacated and I think are doing better because of it. And the New Hampshire Highland Games are as big as ever, the largest in the Northeast. The rest of the games in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut are going strong.

[cessna152towser]

I am loking forward to an ENGLISH Highland Gathering at Ashbourne in Derbyshire

I do believe that games are much better attended outside of Scotland.
I am planning to attend the other major English Highland Gathering at Harpenden on 11th July and when I have been there previously it has always been well supported.
The one USA games which I have attended, Ventura, was on a par with the largest games held here in Scotland and I am told it is by no means the largest in USA.
In another thread it was reported that 20,000 attended the Greenville games, yet here in Scotland we only managed to attract around 400 to 500 paying public at our games, many of whom had travelled a long way to attend. Our entries in both Highland Dance and Heavy Athletics were up this year and we have received a lot of very positive feedback from competitors and from visitors, but at the end of the day it will be down to fundraising from other sources if the games are to continue.

[O'Callaghan]

The only highland games I ever attended in Scotland were also the only times I recall my late Uncle Archie donning his kilt (in some sort of weathered sett). I think he wore either a balmoral or a tam, but he was bald and needed it to keep his head warm. He brought his hip flask of whisky and we stood in the cold watching the competitors tossing the caber and putting the shot.

There was no admission fee and nor were there any other attractions beside the games themselves. If someone had even set up a stand selling bridies, for example, I'm sure they would have done well, but there was nothing like that, and I suspect that they wouldn't have been allowed to do that without a licence. This was not in the highlands, mind you, but near Glasgow.

This event only needed a patch of land and the willingness of the competitors to show up, so it probably still goes on. It was sparsely attended even back then, but I didn't get the impression that the competitors cared.

[O'Callaghan]

Oops!

[denmcdough]

Years ago, I use to attend the Ligonier Highland Games, in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. I went, probably, four times, and it was magnificant. Then I stopped going....haven't been there in 20 years!??? I heard where they got 10,000 for the event, which was held at Idlewild Park. The park, I hear, now charges $27.00, or there abouts to enter. Maybe that's why numbers are down. And, a local Celtic merchant relayed to me that these games are not what they use to be. Hmm, if it weren't for the high price to enter the park, I'd go just to see if things have really changed. If I do go, I'll let everyone know how it went. The date is usually the second weekend in September.

Has anyone else attended these games in recent years???

[OC Richard]

The one USA games which I have attended, Ventura, was on a par with the largest games held here in Scotland and I am told it is by no means the largest in USA.

As a piper/pipe band person, my perspective on measuring the size of Games is how many pipe bands attend. I'm utterly ignorant of the number of dancers or athletes, and mostly ignorant of the size of the "gate".

Ventura is one of our smallest Games. They're called the "Seaside Games" and so they are, held on a grounds around 100 yards from the beach, where you can stroll along the sand and watch the surfers if you want to take a break from the Games. The top piping trophy is an actual fullsize surfboard, done up in tartan.

Our largest Games are put on by the Caledonian Club of San Francisco. They have been held continuously since 1865. Nowadays they're held in Pleasanton.

The big difference I noticed between Games here and in Scotland was that here at Pleasanton we have a huge Games with 30 or 40 thousand people attending and averaging around 25 to 30 pipe bands.

In Scotland there are Games such as North Berwick which are rather small gatherings in a small town, but 60 or 70 pipe bands show up! We were amazed as coach after coach drove in, parked, and each disgorged an entire pipe band in full kit. (Here we travel to Games individually and in our ordinary clothes, getting dressed at the Games.)

[cessna152towser]

Pipe Bands at Games in Scotland
You raise an interesting point there Richard.
At the better attended games in Scotland there are RSPBA competitions in most if not all grades and 60-70 pipe bands are by no means uncommon. North Berwick games do have such a competition and although North Berwick is a small town the games are well attended because the venue is only 20 miles from Edinburgh and the games take place during the Edinburgh Festival. Many local games, such as those which we hold here in Hawick do not include a pipe band competition. The pipe bands from the local area (this year we had four)are paid to attend and perform Pipe Band Demonstrations.

[OC Richard]

Pipe Bands at Games in Scotland
You raise an interesting point there Richard.
At the better attended games in Scotland there are RSPBA competitions in most if not all grades and 60-70 pipe bands are by no means uncommon. North Berwick games do have such a competition and although North Berwick is a small town the games are well attended because the venue is only 20 miles from Edinburgh and the games take place during the Edinburgh Festival. Many local games, such as those which we hold here in Hawick do not include a pipe band competition. The pipe bands from the local area (this year we had four)are paid to attend and perform Pipe Band Demonstrations.

Very interesting. Your Hawick Games sound like some of the smaller US Games where they pay a few pipe bands to entertain.

The West Virginia Games are rather small, and had paid bands in the past. Then in 2009 they decided to switch to competition and instead of four or five noncompetition bands they had a dozen bands (grades four and five).
This year a couple grade three bands came as well, one travelling quite a distance to do so. (The entire state, probably about the size of Scotland in land mass, has only two million people and one competition band.)

North Berwick was our first Scotland Games and we were amazed at 60+ bands in a Games held in a small village. The largest Games in the US have half that many.

One reason North Berwick's competition is so large is that it falls one week before the World Pipe Band Championships and most overseas bands play North Berwick (Saturday) and Bridge of Allan (Sunday) as warm-ups for the Worlds. Then in the intervening week bands attend various Piping Live events in Glasgow and have intense daily rehearsals. It takes a week for bagpipes to acclimate to a different climate.

So among the 60 bands at North Berwick were several bands from the US, several from Canada, bands from Oman, Brazil, Italy, and even England.

It was odd in a way to travel to a Games in Scotland only to compete against two or three of the bands we compete against at every Games here.

[Michael Flemming]

Hi to all,

It was announced this year that the Chicago Games will be moving next year from the Oak Brook Polo Club that has hosted them for the last 15 years or so to a new venue in the suburb of Itasca. I asked one of the organizers about the reason for the move; he told me that the games have simply outgrown the 12 or so acres available in Oak Brook, the new venue will be a 20 acre site.

[vmac3205]

Captmac and I will be at the Strathpeffer Games and the Clan MacKenzie Gathering in August.