THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606190141
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 116 lines
CHESAPEAKE CITY PARK will come alive Saturday with the sounds of border collies barking after sheep, pipers and drummers producing stirring battle music, athletes in kilts grunting and groaning in hot competition and dancers making percussive sounds with their feet as they high step to Highland dances.
The sounds you'll hear will be the popular Hampton Roads Highland Games sponsored by the Tidewater Scottish Festival.
This year's festival will see three changes: a new name, participation by four historical military re-enactment groups and a special ceremony added to the festival's end.
``Throughout our 18 years of bringing this festival we've run into confusion,'' said Eleanor Unger, president of the Tidewater Scottish Festival board of directors. ``We've been confused with the Scottish Society of Tidewater, and although we support them and they support our activities, we are not associated with each other. So this year we decided to call it `The Tidewater Scottish Festival presents the Hampton Roads Highland Games.' And the event shall be known as the Hampton Roads Highland Games from now on.''
This is the festival's third year in Chesapeake, the city festival organizers now call home.
After years at various locations in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Unger said her group chose Chesapeake because of the park's facilities and size, the city's central location and the park's easy access to major roads and interstate highways.
``We love it here,'' Unger said. ``Everybody is so nice and supportive. We think our crowds are building annually. People are coming to our festival from all over the region, state and beyond.''
Unger is also excited about the festival's sponsorship by Cox Communications.
``They have helped spread the word all over their cable networks,'' she said.
The festival will include highland and country dancing and competitions, piping and drumming demonstrations and competitions, Scottish fiddling and border collie demonstrations.
There will be several Scottish historical re-enactment groups spanning more than 600 years of military history:
The Army of the Bruce - If you liked the motion picture ``Braveheart,'' you'll like this. The group will demonstrate how Scottish troops lived and fought at Bannockburn on June 14, 1314, as they defeated Edward II's English army and gained freedom from English domination.
MacLean's Company, McDonnell's Regiment of Irish Foot - This bunch will recreate the period of 1644-45 as they fought on the side of King Charles I against the Duke of Argyll and Oliver Cromwell's Puritan ``Roundheads.''
Ronover's Company, The Appin Regiment - This group fought alongside Prince Charles Edward Stuart (a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Charlie) from Glenfinnan in 1745 to the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, where they fought against the English forces of Gen. Wade and the Duke of Cumberland.
The Earl Louis Mountbatten Post of the Royal Canadian Legion - They will be on hand with military vehicles and other British militaria from World War II to the Korean War.
``This is a first time for Chesapeake,'' Unger said. ``We used to have them when we were at the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk. Now that we have the room once more, we invited them back.''
Besides the re-enactment groups, there will be ``battles'' on the field of Scottish sports, as well, Unger said.
The event will include Cumberland-style Highland wrestling; hammer throw; the caber toss, in which an athlete tosses a 110-pound pole; the weight toss; the weight throw; and the sheaf toss, in which a contestant uses a pitchfork to toss a 16-pound sheaf of hay wrapped in burlap.
``All of these competitions were held at clan gatherings,'' Unger explained. ``They all had a military purpose and were staged to find out who would make the strongest and best soldiers.''
In addition, the event will feature performances by the Florida-based group Clan Na Gael, a quartet combining classic and traditional Scottish/Celtic music with modern pop and rock sounds. Also included will be the Highland-Aires, the duo of Roy Munro and Ralph Melville of Lancaster, Pa., who will perform old-fashioned Scottish music perfect for a spirited ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), a type of happy Scottish feast or gathering.
Not forgetting the ``wee little ones,'' the event will feature the popular Brigadoon Children's Tent, which will include performances by the group C. Shells, stories by Grannie MacLeod, the Wappadoodle Puppets, the Norfolk Story League and hayrides, along with demonstrations by the Bay Area Sheep Producers Association, the Tidewater Quilters Guild, the Tidewater Weavers Guild and the Chesapeake 4-H Critters Club.
There will also be lots of Scottish foods and gifts, and a display of classic British automobiles.
The event will end its weekend with a special Sunday ceremony called the ``Kirking of the Tartan.''
``This is a blessing of the tartans and families,'' Unger said. ``It's actually a Scottish-American ceremony developed by Dr. Peter Marshall, who was chaplain to the U.S. Senate during World War II. It was developed to bring attention to the troops overseas. Later, it caught on.''
Sunday's free ceremony begins at 10 a.m. and will be held at the Holiday Inn-Chesapeake, 725 Woodlake Drive. The event, which will be officiated by a retired Navy chaplain, the Rev. Carroll Starling, will include each participating clan bringing up their tartans or colors to be blessed. There will be a solemn liturgical dance, ``St. Margaret's Lilt,'' and a lament, ``Flowers of the Forest'' to be played by a lone piper.
But all will not be sadness when the Scottish Festival ends its 1996 Hampton Roads Highland Games this weekend. The future looks brighter than ever, Unger said.
``Next year we're planning to go for two days,'' she said. ``And we will be hosting the U.S. National Highland Dancing Championships, which is being held this year in Houston. And we will finally be able to hold border collie trials and not just demonstrations. So we have a lot to look forward to.
``But let's not forget this Saturday's festival. We'll have a bonnie good time.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page 11 of The Clipper for this date.] ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
FROM SWING TO SCOTS
Photo by JAN HARRIS
A Scottish athlete prepares to compete in the weight toss.
AT A GLANCE
[For a schedule of events, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB