The Sweet Home Celtic Festival and Highland Games will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday and run through Sunday at the Sweet Home Rodeo grounds.
The new event will feature athletic events, music and dancing.
Among athletic events are the caber toss, stone throwing, discus and hammer throwing. In the stone-throwing events, the new Sweet Home stone, weighing in at 120 pounds will be the big challenge.
A wide variety of participants, those who’ve never competed to seasoned veterans, will compete before visitors.
Clan tents will provide opportunities for members of the public to learn more about the their family histories, heritage and clans.
Vendors will feature jewelry, clothing, face painting, swords and more.
Event organizer Greg Downs anticipates roughly 2,000 visitors. Similar events draw thousands across the nation. The recent Enumclaw, Wash., games had 30,000 visitors. Portland drew 17,000. Other Oregon events include Prineville, Winston and Myrtle Creek.
People from Eugene and Portland will enjoy having an event within the Willamette Valley, Downs said. “We’re on the I-5 Corridor, basically, as opposed to Prineville. These guys are excited about driving an hour or hour and a half to get here.”
Downs plans to make the festival an annual event.
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group is assisting Downs with the event.