THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406300186
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER AND SUSAN SMITH, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
A WEE BIT OF SCOTLAND seemed to have touched down in Chesapeake on Saturday.
In the land of grits, cloggers and Virginia drawls, there were bagpipers, thick brogues, Celtic fiddling and songs, Highland dancers, border collies, pub tents, kilts, weavers and burly caber tossers.
The 16th annual Tidewater Scottish Festival was held for the first time in Chesapeake. Officials deemed this gathering of the clan a big success. After holding its annual celebration of Scottish/Celtic culture in Virginia Beach and then Norfolk for the past 15 years, organizers said Chesapeake could be the permanent site.
``This is our first year at our new location in Chesapeake, and we feel we have found a home,'' said Eleanor Unger, president of the Tidewater Scottish Festival Committee. ``We were all delighted with how the day went.
``We got a lot of positive feedback from many out-of-town visitors. The piping judge, who has seen festivals in Scotland and all over the country, said we had the best organized games in the South and the athletic judge, who is also a veteran of Scottish festivals, felt we're on the right track, we're on the brink of something big.''
Unger likened the daylong celebration of all things Scottish as ``a few formal ceremonies coupled with a comedy hour and an unrehearsed three-ring circus.''
The skirl of the bagpipers echoed throughout Chesapeake City Park. Sometimes the sounds were as upbeat as a Highland fling and other times as stately and somber as a dirge. Assembled pipers like the Tidewater Pipes and Drums, the Clan MacNeill Pipe Band and the Del Mar District Pipe Band regaled the audience with bonny music and dramatic performances.
From a tie to a pair of argyle socks, even spectators who weren't of Scottish descent felt compelled to don anything with a hint of tartan.
Clansmen, bandsmen, dancers, musicians, athletes and sightseers splendid in traditional Highland attire were everywhere at the festive site.
For example, W. Martin Myers, assistant vice president of NationsBank in Richmond, wore the appropriate costume including kilt or filleadh-beg, the over-the-shoulder plaid or filleadh-more secured with a brooch, along with wool hose, walking stick and a sgiandubh, a small dagger tucked into the top of his warm Scottish socks.
The fair itself was as picturesque as the spectators and participants.
Approaching the fairgrounds from Greenbrier Parkway one got the impression of nearing a Scottish medieval fair.
Canopied tents of all colors, banners and family coats of arms enlivened the day. Clans like the MacPhersons, MacIntyres, Locharts, Fergusons, Frasers and MacKenzies ate picnic fare and compared family trees and histories in this Scotland-for-a-day setting.
The Red Lion Tent offered shade from the searing midday sun, along with a storyteller and the sounds of the Doorway Singers, a group that sang old Scottish ballads as listeners sat in rapt attention while wolfing down traditional meat pies and fish 'n' chips.
While many sat, shopped, ate and listened, still others enjoyed the sweaty spectacle of Scottish games.
``The competitions went very well,'' Unger said. ``People always love to see them. And the caber toss always fascinates people.'' (A caber is a 120-pound pole tossed end over end.)
The contests drew a large audience as kilted athletes struggled with the weight toss, caber toss, hammer throw and sheaf toss.
Other colorful sights:
A full suit of metal armor guarding the tent of Deep Creek armorer R.L. McDaniel, who through his company Dragon's Armory, crafts helmets, spiked clubs and swords out of sheet metal.
While members of the Tidewater Weavers and Tidewater Spinners guilds demonstrated how they turned raw wool into yarn, a white-faced, black border collie napped as he kept one eye on his nearby flock.
Lads and lassies of all ages were lured into the fly-fishing exhibit manned by experts Bob Cranshaw and Ron Bennett. The two gave tips to anglers on how to land that ``big braw troot.''
It seems Chesapeake had landed the big braw festival for years to come, Unger said.
``Everyone from locals to out-of-towners loved this year's festival and location and everyone is looking forward to next year,'' Unger said. ``The park is big and beautiful and the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department was wonderful handling traffic and providing security. We have all sorts of plans for growth, maybe a rugby match, but whatever we do, we'll just keep adding on. We're home in Chesapeake.''
Unger said next year's Scottish Festival will take place June 24, again, at its new Chesapeake home at Chesapeake City Park.
As the old Scottish song says, ``We'll aye come back and see ye.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
A WEE BIT OF SCOTLAND
[COLOR] Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Don Gregory of the Tidewater Pipes and Drums salutes during opening
ceremonies of the Tidewater Scottish Festival.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Assembled pipers like the Tidewater Pipes and Drums regaled the
audience with bonny music and dramatic performances.
Linda Connor, left, Shannon Burnham and Nell-Garwood Mac Easchern
dance the Highland fling.
Elizabeth Kehrig joins Blaine Peet in a Scottish country dancing
lesson.
Robert Burns Galloway of Del Mar District Pipe Band pipes a lot of
wind into the bags. Horace R. Lewis of Virginia Beach represents the
MacLeod Clan.
A BONNY GROUP OF WINNERS AT 16TH ANNUAL SCOTTISH FESTIVAL
Dancer of the Day - Jennifer Vinson, Maryland
Piper of the Day - Russell Johnstone, Delaware
Athlete of the Day - Mark Landis, Pennsylvania
Most Promising Athlete - Greg Martz, Madison
Fiddler of the Day - Paul Brockman, Zuni
Best Sailor's Hornpipe - Linda Connor, New Jersey
Tidewater Pipes and Drums Scholarship Winner - Emily Patton,
Virginia Beach
Knobby Knees - Dan O'Leary, Norfolk, defending his title
Haggis Hurl - Susan Forester, Virginia Beach. (Contestants stood
on whiskey barrel and threw the haggis or awful offal as far away as
possible. Haggis is a traditional Scottish food composed of sheep
entrails and oatmeal, cooked in a sheep's stomach. In this case, the
simulated haggis is made out of panty hose filled with dried beans.
by CNB