Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Modern Celtic athletes will be at the heart of the upcoming Fifth Sweet Home Highland Games and Celtic Festival, but the festival also will pay homage to its medieval roots.
The Highland Games will run from Aug. 26 to Aug. 28 at the Sweet Home Events Center rodeo grounds, at 4000 Long Street, organizer Kathi Downs said.
The games will open with a concert and “ceilidh” (pronounced kay-lee), a Celtic party, on the evening of Aug. 26.
Highland games will begin the next day along with the “March of the Clans” and opening ceremonies.
The games will include a variety of Celtic contests, like the caber toss, the hammer throw and the farmer’s carry. Other contests will include stone-throwing contests, with the largest being the Sweet Home stone weighing more than 120 pounds.
The festival will celebrate Celtic culture with music, culture and demonstrations. Vendors will offer Celtic foods, and a variety of Celtic clans will be on hand to talk with visitors about their heritage.
Another ceilidh will begin after games on Aug. 27. A ceilidh includes music, dance, poetry, stories and more.
Sunday, athletes will demonstrate the games although they will not compete.
The Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA) will join the festival in force for the second year, Downs said. The SCA has been at the festival for several years, but last year the organization set up camp on the south side of the rodeo arena. The Celtic booths and events were held in the arena and on the north side of the arena.
“Last year, it was good,” Downs said. “This year, it’s going to be bigger as far as the SCA.”
Downs is organizing the event for the first time, she said. In the past, she has handled assignments given by her husband and founder Greg Downs. The past couple of years, Bob Teter had taken lead in organizing the event while Greg Downs was busy with an in-state National Guard assignment.
“Greg organizes as much as he can,” Mrs. Downs said. “I’ve never done the organizing. I’ve just done what they said.”
Entertainment will be different this year, Downs said. She has not named guest artists yet, but the festival will include even more attractions, such as belly dancing, in addition to Celtic music.
Perennial Sweet Home Festival musicians, such as Janet Naylor, will return; and Red McWilliams, who met his wife at the Sweet Home Festival, will return.
The SCA and Amtgard, a group that plays medieval battle games, will stage fighting demonstrations.
The festival also will host a “bonny knees” contest, in which men wearing kilts will compete for the designation of “bonniest knees,” on Saturday.
The event draws at least 500 visitors, Downs said. we did pretty well.”
Downs encourages local businesses and Sweet Home residents to decorate Celtic, to “go Celtic” in the coming week.
For information on participating in the Highland Games, volunteering or participating in the festival, call 367-3487.
Sean C. Morgan can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 367-2135.