Sean C. Morgan
It wasn?t really traditional, but Don Scobie of Seattle was just having fun when he played the AC/DC hit ?Thunderstruck? during Saturday?s Fourth Annual Highland Games and Clan Gathering.
He said he would work some AC/DC, but not the bagpipe-laden ?Long Way to the Top,? into the number he was performing with Red McWilliams of Tacoma, Wash. AC/DC is an Australian hard rock band whose work has spanned three decades.
Red announced it would be followed by Janet Naylor playing AC/DC.
Maybe ?some EZ/DZ,? Naylor responded.
Nearby, Red?s wife, Cathy McWilliams, whom he met at the festival two years ago, was busy talking with people and selling ?kilt koozies,? or Celtic beverage holders.
Visitors enjoyed a variety of activities, from music and dancers to demonstrations by the Society for Creative Anachronisms. Novices and experienced athletes competed in a number of events, like the caber toss and the farmer?s carry, where they walk two 150-pounce weights 100 feet and back again.
Local Amtgard players demonstrated their fighting style, and small children got to compete in their own games.
Among the entertainment was Isla St. Clair with John Spoore. They were traveling with Patrick King, who makes documentaries for BBC and the History Channel. St. Clair is among the foremost traditional Scottish singers, and Spoore was personal piper for the Queen Mother, Elizabeth, from 1985 to 1995.
They provided a concert following opening ceremonies Friday night when Red was named the honorary chieftain of the festival.
?It?s definitely better attendance than last year,? event organizer Bob Teter said. ?Isla said she was happy last night. She had a lot of fun. John couldn?t keep the women off.?
After the concert, they surrounded him to check out his attire.
The games had about 20 persons competing, about average for the festival, Teter said. ?We got a different crowd this year. This is probably a larger novice class than we?ve had in the past.
By noon, the children?s games had drawn 18 participants, Teter said. Last year, the festival probably had eight all day.
?This is pretty close to what I was hoping for,? Teter said. ?I think this is by far the best level of entertainment we?ve had.?
Teter shares duties organizing the festival with founder Greg Downs.
On the field, Cody Sanders of Sweet Home was trying the games for his first time.
?It?s difficult,? Sanders said. ?It?s definitely a lot of technique, but you can just strength your way through it.?
He didn?t quite make it through the farmer?s carry, but he had no problem flipping the novice caber.
?It?s a light atmosphere,? Sanders said. ?We?re just out here having fun.?
After competing all day, tired and sore, he was done. He left the Highland wrestling alone, but he planned definitely to try his hand at it again next year.
Lynnie Allen?s son-in-law Chester Miller was competing in the games. She was carting his son, Cooper, 2, around with friends and family.
Cooper?s ?been having fun with the swords,? Allen said. He also enjoyed hopping around to the tune ?Danny Boy.?
?I always try to get to as many as I can,? Justin Elrod of Springfield said. He attends games ?to get as much culture as possible.?
Many traditions seem to be dying off, Elrod said. Nearby, he had happily signed a petition to try to save the legendary Black Watch, which is apparently in danger of being disbanded.
Elrod got interested in his Celtic roots at the age of 15. He had known he was a Campbell, and that sparked his interest. Soon everyone in his family got the bug and knew something about their heritage too. Now they all attend the festivals.
Elrod enjoys hanging out at the festivals, but sometimes he gets involved in the dancing. He learned the Highland Fling and the Shepherd?s Cross from the Eugene Highlanders.
Sweet Home was Sweet Home resident Mary Burton?s eighth so far this summer.
?I searched for my Scottish roots for a long time, for my clan,? Burton said. But she could never find anything because there was no ?convener? in the Northwest.
After establishing contact with Clan MacNachtan, she was told she should take up that post. Now she is membership secretary for the worldwide organization.
?I really love to help people find their roots,? Burton said. Inside her tent was a map of Scotland outlining the historical locations of the many clans.
Over in the kids? games, Vanessa Wodtli won the caber toss in the 7- to 8-year-olds division. She was third in the throw and the jump.
?The log one was fun, the caber toss,? she said. ?The funnest part about it is because it fives you exercise.?
Now her parents, Derrik and Kelly, are pretty sure they?ll have to find a small log somewhere for her to practice for next year.
The SCA built a small, semi-period encampment on the south side of the Outdoor Events Center arena.
The SCA was on hand to give fighting, archery, weaving and coin-making demonstrations, Ron Levine of Medford, also known as Lord Ogier de Corbiel in the SCA, said.
?It?s not entirely unlike some of the things we do,? Levine said of the Highland games.
The SCA has games of its own as well as non-choreographed battles. For more information, persons can check it out at http://www.sca.org.
The key difference between the Celtic festival and SCA encampment is period. The Highland games, festivals and music are relatively modern.
Greg Franck-Weiby, Ian Cnulle, the moneyer of Siberbyrg, said. He uses a Welsh-English persona in the SCA, but the kilt he wore to the festival wasn?t properly called a kilt.
The coin maker wore what was called a ?belted plaid,? a 16th century and earlier precursor to the kilt.
After 1745, the kilt was outlawed by the British along with the bagpipes, Franck-Weiby said. the 1750s, when the British raised the Scottish Regiments for the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), the British permitted them again.
The kilt became popular in the 1820s when King George IV toured Scotland wearing a kilt to show he was king of the whole island.
The SCA is primarily oriented around faithfully reenacting historical periods, but it does provide an overlap with things like the Highland games and Civil War reenactment groups.
He was at the festival demonstrating how coins were historically minted. After engraving and punching dies, he worked in pewter and silver stamping coins with a sledgehammer, crushing the blank coin between the two dies.
He designed a commemorative ?half-bawbee,? worth three pence for the Sweet Home games.
?I?m used to events a little bigger and more traffic,? Franck-Weiby said. ?This is basically a pleasant weekend out.?
After performing Friday night then again on Saturday, St. Clair and Spoore continued performances at a booth where they sold CDs and DVDs, including ?When the Pipers Play,? a song and a documentary about the history of the bagpipes.
King explained that bagpipes are used all around the world.
There are more pipers in North America than anywhere else, he said, but India can field the largest pipe band, with more than 1,000 pipers. Indians also do it riding elephants.
King, St. Clair and Spoore, ?Arts and Music for Film and Television, come to the United States periodically and visit games for free in an effort to promote Scottish culture.
He talked with Downs, and Downs suggested they come to Sweet Home.
?It?s been good fun,? King said. ?We?ve enjoyed it. It?s very small games, but it?s more personal, like a small-town fair. We were glad to come up and give a bit of a name to it.?
For more information on King, St. Clair or Spoore, persons may visit http://www.highlandclassics.tv or http://www.islastclair.tv.
For more information about Red or Scobie, persons may visit http://www.flash.net/~celtsong or http://www.nwlink/~bagpiper.