Alma Highland Games

This weekend, Andrew and I had the pleasure of attending the annual Alma Highland Festival with my parents, my sister Emily, and her husband David.

Up until this point, Andrew had not been to a Highland Festival, so it was good preparation for living so close to Scotland and my heritage this fall.

Upon arriving, we found the Clan MacLeod tent and signed in.

We also found the Clan Campbell tent to sign Andrew in, as his paternal grandmother was a Campbell.  Both tents welcomed us warmly, as family.

After browsing some Scottish shops for a bit, we enjoyed some traditional Scottish fare for lunch: haggis and chips, meat pies, and Irn Bru.

Next, we met back up with the Clan, attired ourselves in Clan MacLeod dress tartan, and joined in the "Parade of Tartans."  Clan MacLeod won best Clan tent last year, so we were honored to lead the parade this year.

Following the parade, we joined others in the stands to watch some highland dancing and the mass pipe bands.

We were able to watch just a little bit of some games - the stones throw and one caber toss - before we had to leave.  Next year, we hope to get back as there were still so many things we wanted to do:  watch competitive pipe bands and highland dancing, see the border collies herd the sheep, enjoy a Scottish brew in the hospitality tent while listening to contemporary Scottish bands, and watch more of the games themselves.