Event: Glengarry Highland Games
Date: August 3-4, 2018
Website:www.glengarryhighlandgames.com
The Story:
Now that was a wonderful games!
As the Saturday evening sun glistened on the pipes and drums of 1449 pipers and drummers playing Scotland the Brave to the overflowing and enthusiastic crowd, the 2018 Glengarry Highland Games came to a close. With the last notes fading on the air, the crowd cheered not only for the bands’ breathtaking performance but also for the memory of another wonderful Games and celebration of all things Scottish.
This year’s Games was certainly a celebration of all things Scottish, but it was also a celebration of Glengarry and how as a small rural area of Ontario, everyone comes together at the Games either as competitor, performer, volunteer or spectator and for two glorious days in the middle of summer, just has a great time.
Everyone has their own special memories of this year’s Games and certainly among them will be the Official Ceremonies on Saturday with the thunder rumbling and lightning flashing in the surrounding skies. The skies stayed sunny as Rae MacCulloch’s son, Lindsay, the 2018 President, welcomed one and all to the Games. The rain stayed away as Captain Bob Pearson, pilot of Canada’s Gimli Glider, captured the audience’s hearts with his wit and warmth about his accomplishment, his love of Glengarry and his Campbell heritage. Only with the Party seated in the grandstand and the first wave of the massed bands entering the field, did the clouds open up with the downpour. As the rain poured and then quickly moved away, the pipers and drummers never missed a beat.
The Games flew by this year leaving the haunting notes of the pipes on the air and the grass on the grounds baked dry by feet and sun. Sunday morning on the grounds, it was like there had never been 25,000 and more sharing the Games experience. Signs were down, tents were gone and there wasn’t a plastic cup or a piece of garbage to be found. Committee volunteers were out in force cleaning up their areas and the grounds crew were watering the gorgeous floral displays to keep them blooming in the heat. Like the fictitious town of Brigadoon, the 2018 Glengarry Highland Games has slipped off into the Glengarry mists until it comes out in full glory once again next year on August 2 and 3, 2019.
Dona Cruickshank
Event Organizer