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Men in kilts: Scottish Highland Games and Festival celebrated at fairgrounds

By Bruce Hope bruce@opcfla.com
Posted 3/3/21

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Kilts were in vogue as people of Celtic descent converged at the Clay County Fairgrounds Saturday, Feb. 27, for the 26th annual Northeast Florida Scottish Highland Games and …

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Men in kilts: Scottish Highland Games and Festival celebrated at fairgrounds


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Kilts were in vogue as people of Celtic descent converged at the Clay County Fairgrounds Saturday, Feb. 27, for the 26th annual Northeast Florida Scottish Highland Games and Festival. The event saw packed crowds enjoying traditional highland athletic competitions, musical demonstrations, and parades and, of course, food.

Games such as the Scottish Hammer, the stone of strength, and the weight over bar were all played. In the Scottish Hammer, a 50-inch flexible pipe fitted with an iron or steel ball at one end is twirled and thrown as far as possible, with the furthest throw becoming declared the winner. The Stone of Strength is the predecessor of the modern shot put. The weight over bar is an event where a weight attached to a handle is thrown back over the competitor’s head in an attempt to clear a bar of increasing height. A modern version of this even is usually a part of the current World’s Strongest Man competition.

“This is my second year [at the festival],” said Richard Hayes. “I met the Hay clan, which is my clan. Then COVID hit, and unfortunately, they’re not here this year.”

Inside some of the enclosures were small parades, which saw color guards, bagpipes and drum bands, and others marching to the delight of the crowds in the bleachers on the ground.

Gary Orlando has been coming to the event on and off since 2009. He is of Irish heritage but enjoys the opportunity to celebrate his Celtic roots.

“I love the games competitions,” he said as he watched the female Weight Over Bar event. “I used to compete years ago before an injury, so I still come out and watch everybody compete. There’s a lot of history with the competition, and it’s an individual sport where you’re competing against each other, but you’re competing against yourself.”

Different vendors were onsite for the vent. Most were food, but there were also artists, jewelers and more.

Throughout the area was the booming of drums and the unmistakable sound of bagpipes.

“I’m here with the Rosie O’Grady’s Highlanders, and I’m a piper,” said Grant Austin, who plays the bagpipes. “It’s the first time for myself personally, but the band has been here, I think, over the years. I have been playing the pipes about 50 years at least. My mother’s from Scotland.”

Despite COVID-19, Austin was happy people could come out and enjoy the weather, the food and the chance to celebrate and show off their kilts.

“I think it’s [the NEFL Scottish Highland Games and Fesitval] a great thing,” said Orlando. “I think it both brings in revenue for the area; it’s obviously a popular event, and it helps promote the different Scottish, Irish, and Celtic heritages that have immigrated to this area and made this area what it is.”