Celebrating Scottish culture and history, the 42nd Annual Savannah Scottish Games and Celtic Festival took place this year on a warm and sunny May 5.
The festival was held on the beautiful grounds of historic Bethesda Academy. Ancient live oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss surrounded the event field. The salt marsh was a perfect backdrop for Highland Dancers. Scottish clans, societies and organizations had their tents set up under the trees. And of course there were food trucks and vendors.
With so many events going on at the same time, we had plenty to keep us entertained. Pipes and Drums music, Border Collie demonstrations, Highland Dancing competition, and Celtic music performances were all taking place at the same time as the Heavy Athletics. In addition, there were tents with information about genealogy and many different Clans.
The Heavy Athletics competition included several fun events to watch. The Caber Toss is a fan favorite. In this event the athlete lifts a twenty foot caber weighing over one hundred pounds, runs a few steps holding it upright, and then tosses it. The object is to have the caber flip once and land straight in front of the athlete at the 12 o’clock position. We also enjoyed watching the Clachneart (Stone Put) and the Sheaf Toss. We didn’t get to see the Throwing of the Weights or the Hammer Throw.
The Pipes and Drums were beautiful to hear.
I have Scottish ancestors on both sides of my family. I enjoyed stopping at a couple of tents to see if I could learn anything about my families. I found out a little about my father’s side of the family but didn’t discover anything new about my Scottish roots on my mothers side. And I still don’t know what our Tartan is. A little more research is in my future.
After the games we stopped to check out the roses at the Savannah Botanical Gardens. Stay tuned for more coming up about that in my next post.
Wandering Dawgs 
What an amazing group of photos you were able to capture. I’ve have been to one of these celebrations in NH once, and I loved it. My favorite was the sheep dog trials. Of course, your backdrop with the live oaks and the moss also beats our pine tree background. 🙂 Looking forward to the botanical trip next time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved the dogs, too. They didn’t have trials but the demonstrations were fun to see. As soon as the dog was done herding them, the sheep would stop to eat clover.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks like a fun event. I love watching dogs work. Our first Brittany Spaniel was a Jekyll and Hyde … a timid petite sweet thing around the house, and an aggressive hunting machine in the fields in northern Illinois 🐕
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Campbell clan! My 93 year old mother was there with Payton’s family. Good time had by all. We worked😜
LikeLiked by 1 person
Where are you and Henry in the PiX? Loved the shots, wish we could have been there….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love Scottish games. They are so colorful. In September a group holds them at the fairgrounds near our home and in other locations not far away at other times during the year. Sheep dogs, music, athletic events. What’s not to like. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great pictures of the games, but the border collie took my heart! They are the most intelligent dog breed, before poodles 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh how I love bagpipes!
Our LakeHouse is in a little Scottish town in Pennsylvania. Every fall we have a very similar festival!
Great pictures and video!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Plus that video the Bagpipes are playing is our fight song at the local University!
LikeLiked by 1 person
All out fun!
Enjoy the portly fellas tossing their matchsticks! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person