Central Florida

Scottish Highland Games

Central Winds Park
1000 E. SR 434
Winter Springs, Fl 32708

(Barrett, 2007)

Chip Crawford
President of Scottish American Society of Central Florida
Heather Denmark
UF ARE 6933
February 4, 2015

Central Florida Scottish Highland Games

http://www.flascot.com/

Archery
Axe throwing
Music
Clan Parade
Food and Alcohol
Boulder Boogie
Scottish Dancing
Border Collies

(Barrett, 2015)
Parade of the Clans

Shortbread Competition
Sword Fighting
Bagpipes
Flowers of the Forest
Coat of Arms
Hammer Throw
Caber Toss
And Quidditch!!!
(Denmark, 2015)
Directional Signs

HISTORY
In 1977 the McCall, Bottomly and McLaughlin families got together for an
informal dinner to celebrate their Scottish roots at Little Econ Park. Their dinner
meeting spurned the idea to create a plan for the formation of an educational, cultural
and social organization for Central Floridians of Scottish dec ent (Barrett, 2007). The
games section of the event was not yet brainstormed. However, they had formed an
organization complete with an office of members and filed the paper work on January
3 rd, 1978 to become official. Sharon Bottomley was President, Richard MacLaughlin was
Vice-President, Andrea White was Secretary and Charles P. McCall was Treasurer.
Since that time there have been many Scotsmen and Scotswomen who have held office
positions to grow their organization. The very first highlands games was held just a
mere 18 days after their official birthday on January 21 st, 1978 making a profit of $0.55!
Heather Denmark

Not a large sum, but for their inaugural season to make any kind of profit was a huge
accomplishment (Barrett, 2007). Since then the game have grown to include local and
national vendors, craftsman, artisans and athletes.

GAMES
Visitors to the highland games will find themselves
immersed in all the fun Scottish-Americans have to offer.
Some of the highlights include the Boulder Boogie where
men and women can pick up a rock and compete to see
who can carry it the furthest without dropping it. To the
left you will see a photo of this years 2015 winner dubbed
Lord of the Trolls who carried that rock for 200ft. The
rock weighs in at 326lbs (Barrett, 2007). There are 3
different weighted stones to carry but that one is the
largest and densest.
Another one of the fan favorites is the ever
popular Caber Toss. In this event men and a few women
in kilts will attempt to throw an entire tree trunk up in the
air so that it will flip and land on the ground at exactly 12
oclock from their throwing position.
(Barrett, 2015)
Lord of the Trolls

VENDORS

Engaging in the medieval village you will

see fully dressed knights sword fighting,
craftsman building wooden furniture,
blacksmiths shaping iron rod and burnishing
leather to sell their goods. The level of quality in
products ranges from kids quality like wooden
bows and arrows found at
http://thecompleatknight.com/ all the way to
artisans that design jewelry for sale that has been
featured on hit shows like the history channels
Vikings http://craftycelts.com/.

(Barrett, 2015)
Medieval Village

You can also find delicious foods from the Gaelic Shoppe. Have a kilt hand made
for you from the ladies at Scottish Leather. Some of their other items for purchase
include but are not limited to handmade metal work, handcrafted jewelry, personalized
Celtic poetry, coats of arms, cast paper artwork, medieval weapons, clan apparel, hand
woven tartans and stained glass.

Heather Denmark

This is a perfect place to ask seasoned artist and craftsmen about their trades and
get a one of a kind piece of art. Genres like Steampunk, Celtic, Modern, Medieval and
Urban can always be found in abundance at the festival. Kettle corn is even hand
crafted in a large copper kettle and literally shoveled out with a wooden shovel, but if
you ask nicely they will gladly give you a free sample.

ENTERTAINMENT
Among the many attracting elements the highland
games has to offer, the entertainment alone would be
worth the admission. Collecting the best Irish, Scottish
and local American bands to create a lineup of
engaging music that fills up an entire hillside of people
for 48 hours. The bands line up back to back while
people lay on their clans tartan blanket with a pint to
share between friends.
Meanwhile if that is not enough to entertain you
senses you can watch the Craigmalloch Border Collies
engaging in their bloodline tradition of sheepherding.
At the same time over by the archery field you can
watch lads and lasses dancing traditional Highland
Dances. If you want a lesson or two you will find
people willing to teach you and all of your clan until
you too can dance like a true Scott.
(Barrett, 2015)
Local Scottish Band

HUMANITARIANS

Beyond just having a good time the Scottish American Society of Central Florida
has philanthropic goals as well. Offering Scottish Art Scholarships to keep Scottish arts
alive. Their scholarships are categorized as either academic or artistic and focus on:
Piping
Drumming
Highland Dance
Country Dance
Stone Carving
Kilt Making
Weaving
Spinning
Leather Working
Fine Art
Applications can be found at http://www.flascot.com/scholarship.php

Heather Denmark

MY EXPERIENCE

Working at the local Highlands elementary which is located a mere 3 miles from
the site of the games I feel like I am part of the event. This is my 3 rd year attending the
games and each year it seems as though it gets bigger and better and I inevitably take a
larger group of friends to commune with me in local and global culture. This year they
even had Quidditich comprised of serious teams from colleges all around Florida. I
myself did not feel as though I could come close to participating in that part of the
games but I did participate. Below you will see a picture of me completely failing in the
hatchet throwing competition and getting schooled by an ex-student next to me.
However, there is always next year.

(Denmark, 2015)

References
Barrett, T. (2007, January 1). Home - Central Florida Scottish Highland Games.
Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://www.flascot.com/
Barrett, T. (2015, Febuary 4). Home - Central Florida Scottish Highland Games.
Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://www.flascot.com/
Deboer, B. (2000, January 1). The Ross Clan. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from
http://www.oldthingsforgotten.com/coatofarms/ross_clan.htm
Denmark, H. (2015, January 17). Central Florida Highland Games. Winter Springs, FL.

AUTHOR NOTE
I would like to thank all of the people who didnt mind sharing their Scottish
stories with just a normal American. A special thanks to the Ross clan for adopting me
and my friend Noemy into their family and for sharing such wonderful stories.
Christmas kilts forever!

Heather Denmark

(Denmark, 2015)

(Deboer, 2000)

(Deboer, 2000)

L: Image of (from the left) Kaye, Me and Noemy at the highland games. Turns out of the
three of us only one of us is Scottish and its Kaye! She took us to her clans tent where
she signed up to be a festival volunteer next year and just happened to be the only clan
that adopts non-Scottish folk so they can claim Scotland for themselves. Obviously
we signed up.
C: The Ross coat of arms
R: One of the tweleve different Ross tartans. The one that now represents the 3 of us.

Heather Denmark