I wandered over to the Highland Games that was taking place in winter springs today. I had a fun time even if it was overpriced. the only thing that really annoyed me was that if you wanted a program that listed when the events were happening, you had to shell out another five bucks for a program. Without one you just had to sort of wander about and see what was happening. Which is what I did. A few pics form the event below.
It was a very overcast day. It was as if a piece of scotland rolled in just for the event.
One of the tournament grounds.
Scottish Wheaties?
Mmm...canned haggis. Who knew?
plenty of Kilts for sale. I saw Alan eyeball some of them.
Nothing says family fun like axe throwing.
The big log toss. I watched this event for a while, it's not that easy to flip a big log.
GRRR!!!
Most of the events were tossing heavy things. Nothing beats watching heavy things get tossed.
Scottish athletes at their finest.
Beer break. I was half expecting to see the usual 'Bud Light' vans at the event, but I was delighted to see they were actually selling some Micro brews on tap. I had a tasty wheat ale. On retrospect if they served Bud Light at a Scottish fest there would probably have been a riot.
Alan shows off his meat pie.
Working the bellows.
Vendors. Kilts and clan colors were everywhere.
I am not sure what the sheep event was.
Irish Jig competition. The Irish jig is described as: This dance is not associated with the true Irish Jig of Ireland. It is a parody of an Irish washerwoman upset at her husband. Movements and gestures of anger and stomping are obvious in this dance. back to top
I have a few videos of the log tossing event i might post later. However, when I uploaded this video of a woman playing the harp and a guy with a flute, something went horribly wrong. The video is Ok at first but then it suddenly goes on an extream acid trip. The most bizzare thing I have seen happen to a digital video. Maybe I was trying to be sucked back in time and did not even notice it.
2026 Update
Dialing the infernal machine to a cloudy Florida field in 2008—let's watch heavy things get tossed.
Ah, 2008. A simpler time when a festival could charge you admission and then demand an extra fiver just to know when the caber toss was happening. Now you get a QR code that leads to an app that demands your email, your location, and your soul before showing you a schedule. I also savor the horror of digital video spontaneously becoming an acid trip. Back then a glitch was bewilderment; now every phone records everything, and corruption is just another 'creative filter.' The beer situation hasn't changed—it's just gotten more pretentious. Microbrews are everywhere, except now they cost nine dollars and arrive with a lecture about haze. Overpriced festival food remains a constant of the universe; I'm sure the meat pie was somehow both dry and soggy. The whole affair was overpriced then and it's overpriced now, but at least back then you had to wander around confused, whereas now you get to wander around confused while a screen tells you you're having fun.
“2008 Ed, why did you shell out any money at all if it was overpriced, and did you ever figure out what the sheep event was before the digital acid trip swallowed the rest of your afternoon?” — Beelzebubba the Third
2008 Ed: Well, Beelzebubba, I shelled out because sometimes you just gotta pay the toll to see big dudes flip logs and eat meat pies, you know? Overpriced or not, it’s not every day Scotland rolls into Winter Springs with the clouds hitching a ride. The program thing still burns me, though—five bucks to know when the caber toss starts? I figured wandering around like a confused sheep was more in the spirit anyway. And no, I never did figure out the sheep event. I stood there squinting for a while, and I think it involved a dog and some very judgmental ewes, but then I got distracted by a wheat ale and let the mystery be. As for the acid-trip harp video, that thing still haunts my camera. I’m half convinced the Highland ghosts cursed my memory card. No clue how it happened, but I’m not messing with it again.
