The 45th Annual Savannah Scottish Games & Celtic Festival is coming up on Saturday, May 6 in Savannah at Bethesda Academy.
A celebration of Scottish heritage that has a long tradition here in Savannah, the all-day event is open to the public and includes a little something for everyone. Scottish clans/societies, pipe bands, celtic music, highland dancing, heavy athletic events (athletes throwing telephone poles), children’s games and activities, sheep herding, falconry, genealogy, hockey booth, concessions and more fun for the entire family.
“The best part of the games each year is the variety of people we have come out,” said Murray Marshall, the 2023 games chair, in a press release this week.
“Athletes, dancers, families, and other community members with no ties to our Celtic heritage all come here to enjoy the day. We are proud to be able to draw that kind of crowd and excited to share it with more and more people each year.”
According to the event’s website (savannahscottishgames.com), more than 3,000 people attend and participate in the event each year. That makes the Savannah Scottish Games one of the Southeast’s largest and it is already one of the most established as the region’s fourth oldest.
Savannah is one of six regional host sites for the USIR Highland Dancing Southern Regional Championships.
“Ambitious new dancers develop self-discipline and confidence as they learn to tackle the physical demands of the dance. The tremendous strength, stamina, and technical precision that accomplished dancers exhibit on stage is fascinating,” says the press release. “The highest level, the premier class, dances earlier in the morning, so come early to see these serious dancers compete for a spot at the national competition.”
The athletic portion includes a number of divisions in several different events. Divisions are categorized as follows: Men’s Amateur A, Men’s Amateur B, Men’s (Ages 40-49), Men’s Masters (50+), Men’s Novice, Women’s Open and Women’s Masters (40+).
These aren’t your typical sporting events. Instead, the games include: Turning of the Caber/Caber Toss, Tossing the Sheaf (16 lbs), Clach Neart or “Stone of Strength” (16 lb stone), 22 lb Hammer Throw, 28 Weight Throw, 56 lb Weight Throw and 56 lb Weight Toss for Height.
“Scottish heavy athletics owe their roots to the Highland warriors who would keep in shape between battles by competing among themselves using everyday implements,” says the games’ press release. “A stone, a blacksmith’s hammer, and a tree trunk, known as a caber, all became tools for building strength for battle.”
The games have plenty of entertainment value beyond the athletics portion.
Children’s activities are scheduled throughout the day, including tug-of-war, sheaf toss, caber toss, haggis hurl, stone throw, welly toss and a sack race. Savannah’s Scottish Games honors the musical tradition of the culture with its own organized piping competition and bagpipe bands. In addition, there will also be live Celtic Music on the entertainment stage from North of Argyll and Lochlann. A full schedule/lineup can be found on the Savannah Scottish Games website.
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This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2023.