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2003 Games Reports
Well the new year has started with our first of many scottish games aboard
Queen Mary in Long Beach. This started with our Convener John Lowry and
his wife Nellie joined our Asst. Convener Tom Adams and his wife Arlene
taking our wives to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack for Valentine's Day. The
next day aboard the Queen, we set up two tables (one for the clan and
the other for our Ventura Scottish Games. Renewed acquaintance with other
clan members and started meeting with visitors. Clan members visiting
-- Mary Todd, Donna Ioppini, Gordon Ting, Ken Marr, Peter Lowry and family,
Pam Marbell and family, Steve & Cindy Melcher, Diane Dahnert, Doug
& Shelby Huttleston and others. The Gordon Highlanders stop by for
a salute and tasting. Saturday evening dinner was again held at the Rock
Bottom. The Grahams and clan member joined started with 35 and ended with
53. Quite a night. Sunday was a slower day but we had a great time visiting
with others. Ended the game, pickup and headed home to meet again the
following weekend at the Mesa Scottish Games in Arizona.
Calaveras Celtic Faire
Rain, rain, and more rain. We were hit with a downpour Friday night, buckets
of rain caused flooding in several areas of the Fairgrounds. Fortunately
set up for the clans was inside with a paved floor this year, so we stayed
dry and out of the mud. Saturday turned out to be clear and mild, no rain
or wind. The crowds were not as bad as expected and we managed to sell
2 polo shirts to a John Lowery. We had some inquiries into the Seaside
Games (the surf board on the tri-fold does attract attention). Definite
interest by several I that I talked to. Sunday's weather was a bit nippier,
but the rain held off. We left mid-afternoon to avoid the next storm coming
in.
Arizona Scottish Games -- Mesa Arizona
Gathered for the first of three Arizona games. The Lowrys and Adams joined
our Arizona Regional Director Jim Ledy and his wife Sandy. Garth Gordon,
our Michigan Convener, and his wife Carol joined us while visiting with
his brother Bruce for his birthday. A few of us shared an elegant Italian
dinner with Jim and his wife Sandy at the Brunello Restaurant. The house
fiddler serenaded us, er violinist, and our own House of Gordon S/W Piper,
Jim Hartman -- a treat I hope more of you will experience very soon. The
Gordon Highlanders again visited us for a salute and tasting on Saturday
afternoon. A great time was had by all.
Las Vegas Games
Woodland Games
We had a very good and lively tent at Woodland with lots of old and new
friends stopping by. Noel and Betty Gordin and granddaughter Jessica made
it down from the Redding area and Gay Huntley dropped by a couple of times
during breaks from her vending chores. Billy Adams was a regular in the
tent and Bill ADAM, our famous piper member, stopped by to sign in and
report on his good recovery from a recent surgery. Earl and Nancy ran
the tent with a little help from us and we have to thank Earl for lugging
the equipment down on Friday in the pouring rain. Our claim to fame at
this Games was certainly our Gordon dancers. Richard and Pam's beautiful
daughter, Nicolette, danced very well in this, her last year before becoming
a Premier and the amazing Laura Mills AND her lovely daughter, Tara, were
the hit of their beginners class, going toe to toe and step for step.
But, the most amazing news was that Tara Mills, a dancer for only six
months, swept the class with three first place and one fourth place ribbons.
Congratulations to Tara ! I think that any doubts about awarding her scholarship
money were alleviated with this showing of her skill and dedication. Tara,
the check is in the mail ! We did OK financially, too. Took in $170 for
3 postcards, 5 tartan flowers, 2 white polos, 2 green polos, 2 blue tees,
a video and $3 in donations. Unfortunately no memberships, although we
did hand out quite a few forms and may reap some of those later. We missed
Anita who was attending the christening of Liz & Barry Craig's baby
boy back home in Indiana.
Campbell Highland Games
Well, the Campbell Highland Games were moved to a new locations this year.
The field at the former location at the Campbell Community Center is being
redone so the Highland Games were re-located to the Santa Clara County
Fairgrounds. It wasn''t a bad location. The Fairgrounds does offer more
shade than the Community Center, which was definitely a plus with the
warm weather we had. The change in location didn''t seem to impact the
turnout at all, if anything it might have improved it.
We had a lot of folks stop by the tent to say hello, some were actually
Gordons. We sold a few of the Gordon items, one of the white polo shirts,
a couple of the green polo shirts, a Castle card, and one of the mouse
pads have all found new homes. This has never been a big money making
event, so anything we sell is great as far as I''m concerned.
Our next event is Dunsmuir on July 12th and 13th. Bydand Forever will
be performing that weekend. Hope to see lots of Gordons out that weekend.
Dunsmuir Games
This was the last year this event will be at the Dunsmuir House location.
Due to problems dealing with the City of Oakland and the Dunsmuir House
staff the organizers announced on Sunday that the event will be moving
to Robertson Park in Livermore. I guess we'll find out next year what
the event will be called. As beautiful as the Dunsmuir House location
is, parking has always been a problem. It became more of a problem this
Sunday when the Oakland Police posted No Parking/Tow Away signs through
out the surrounding neighborhood. This forced everyone to have to pay
for parking, or risk having their car towed. So, despite the beautiful
weather all weekend, attendance was very poor. We only had a few visitors
stop by the Gordon tent this weekend. Those that did stop to say hello,
we were glad to see you. It is always nice to meet all the Gordon's out
there. The House of Gordon got a bit of extra recognition during Saturday's
clan march. The Color Guard needed flags, seems they don't have their
own. The asked for the loan of our Saltire and we graciously complied.
We did spend time promoting the Seaside Games. We gave out a stack of
flyers. We also convinced one of the clans based here it the Bay Area
that they needed to come down to Seaside. Hopefully, we'll see them there
along with everyone else. The NorCal crew will be attending the Monterey
Games the first weekend of August to lend Ken Hendrix a hand at the tent.
Our next event after that is the Pleasanton Highland Games on Labor Day
weekend.
- Anita Geleynse, North California Regional Director
The first ever Seaside Highland Games were held October 10, 11
& 12, 2003 beneath cloudless skies and perfect temperatures along
California's Central Coast in Ventura. They were supported heavily by
the Southern California Scottish Community and beyond. Visitors came from
all points in the United States and from Europe. New York, Florida, South
Carolina, Illinois, Colorado and Washington were represented, as were
France and Scotland--the "Auld Alliance" !
The weekend got off to a great start with Friday's Single Malt Scotch
Whisky Tasting attended by a maximum allowable one hundred curious samplers,
followed by an innovative event called "A Scottish Evening"
(music by Alex Beaton, The Browne Sisters & George Cavanaugh and Linda
Dewar, a delicious buffet supper and a beautiful Scottish Fashion Show).
Amateur and professional models wore tartan garments of all types, many
readily available from Games vendors but some from exclusive collections
in New York and Washington, D.C. Over two hundred fifty diners were served
and more were turned away who will be accommodated next year ! Alex capped
off the evening with his usual fine set of tunes and a hilarious fashion
commentary on his own attire-a great crowd pleaser !
Saturday morning found the gates flooded with visitors from near and far,
eager to see what innovations were planned on the field-and there were
many ! Immediately through the gate, one was greeted with the strains
of some beautiful music from the same Alex, Browne Sisters and Linda of
"A Scottish Evening" fame. Stretching away from the gate-almost
as far as one can see-was Clan Row, a Scottish "tent city" made
up from over fifty Clan Societies and Organizations with a sprinkling
of food and drink vendors thrown in to make the walk more pleasurable.
Leaving Alex's "The Surfliner Stage", one immediately picked
up the strains of Scottish fiddle music emanating from McBride Hall, the
weekend home of the area's several Scottish Country Dance schools. These
dedicated folks demo-ed and taught country dancing all weekend, only taking
time out to enjoy a Saturday night Ceilidh Party of more-you guessed it-dancing
!
But, before you move on and looking to your left you saw the Children's
Glen, one of the most complete children's activity centers ever assembled.
Enough attractions and enrichment experiences to keep the wee ones busy
for the weekend. But, we must press on….
A little further along brings you to the first of two enormous vendor
halls called Anacapa Hall, housing over half the forty plus vendors who
will tempt you with exotic offerings and just beyond and across is a large
open courtyard and stage showcasing the 70 plus Scottish Highland Dancers
of all ages and sizes. A few talented dancers went away with some very
special Seaside Games trophies to add to their treasure cases and all
went away with a special feeling for having participated in the first
Games at Seaside Park.
The Highland Dance Stage served double duty on Sunday morning when it
became the site of a very special Kirkin' of the Tartans with our speaker,
the Reverend Doctor Lloyd J. Ogilvie, recently retired Chaplain of the
U.S. Senate. Dr. Ogilvie touched us all with the story of the life of
John Newton, composer of the favorite hymn Amazing Grace. The tartan representatives
who came forward to have their tartans blessed stood three deep across
the large stage. All went away knowing they had been at a most special
event.
So here, at the Highland Dance Stage, you are directly across from the
huge Food Court where you can sample any number of Scottish dishes from
fish & chips to, yes-haggis ! Burgers and fries are available for
the fainthearted and a pint of British ale is readily at your beck and
call. Just beyond is the Pipe Band Parade Ground where you can enjoy several
of Southern California's best bands and individual players in competition.
We are happy to report that the pipe band season does NOT end on Labor
Day anymore ! They surround Santa Cruz Hall, home to even more vendors
and the fantastic performing family, Celtic Spring. The fiddling and Irish
dancing of these youngsters amazed even the most well traveled of our
guests.
Huge Pacific Arena was home to the Scottish Heavy Athletic events and,
true to form, the Pros put on an amazing show of strength and technique
on Saturday with all classes of amateurs and Masters holding forth both
days. Pacific Arena was also the site of Saturday's Opening Ceremonies
and Grand Parade where a procession of clans and bands was reviewed by
Ventura Mayor Ray Di Giulio, City Councilman and SHG Board Member Neal
Andrews and U.S. Congresswoman Lois Capps. Alex Beaton sang the National
Anthem, SHG Board Chairman Jim Anderson introduced Games Chief John Lowry
who declared the Games open.
Returning to Clan Row finds many more clans -- including a prominently
placed House of Gordon tent operated by Tom and Arlene, Earl and Nancy,
Anita and a bevy of workers - and other treats ahead including the slightly
more boisterous music of Eric Rigler & Bad Haggis, a great band called
MacLear and the irrepressible The Wicked Tinkers. Bydand Forever's encampment
lies just beyond and Morgan Arena is the perfect setting for the famous
Drummond Ranch Herding Dogs.
| The Games were wrapped up in an intimate
Closing Ceremony with just a few hundred friends and supporters at
the Surfliner Stage where final awards were granted and the Chief
vowed a bigger and better Seaside Highland Games in October 2004.
Would you believe the work has already begun ! |
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2004 Scottish Games and Events
Calendar
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