Be you a highlander or a lowlander, a kinsman or an enemy, everyone attending Saturday’s 10th annual Highland Games was extended a warm welcome as a member of the Whidbey Island Celtic Society.
A few miles to the north the Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival was dampened by rain, but Mother Nature smiled on the historic Greenbank Farm as the skirl of the pipes and the rattle of drums celebrated another year of Celtic heritage at the 10th annual Whidbey Island Highland Games.
In addition to performances by pipers from Bellingham, the Clan Gordon and the Washington Scottish Pipe Bands, visitors were treated to individual pipe and drum competition as well as Celtic dancing where gaily tartaned lassies performed the highland fling, the sword dance and the traditional Seann Triubhas, among others.
Athletic events where competitors put the stone, threw the 28- and 56-pound weights for distance and height, hurled the 14- and 16-pound Scottish hammers and tossed the caber drew big crowds.
One of the top competitors in the 26-pound heavy stone throw was Brett Milton from Mill Creek.
Milton won the United States championship in the event in 2004 and 2006, and said he has participated in Scottish games for 17 years.
“I finished second in the world in this event at the competition in Saline, Mich., this year and I was also world runner-up in 2004,” he said. “This is my retirement games today, the end of my season.”
In 2004, Milton set the Whidbey Island Highland Games record in the 56-pound weight for distance event with a throw of 34 feet, 2 inches.
This year’s Chieftain of the Games, Julie Riise, became involved in athletic competition 17 years ago and holds records in six events including the light and heavy stone throws the weight for height and distance, the light hammer throw and the caber. She won the women’s overall title twice at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games in Seattle, and has set a number of records at various venues across Washington.
Pipe and drum competition was a family affair for David Guthrie from Auburn and his son, Jim, from Seattle. Both Guthries are members of the Washington Scottish Pipe Band and were playing while Brady McMahon rattled out a two-by-four march cadence on the drum.
“Brady is my cousin,” David Guthrie said with pride.
McMahon, a 13-year-old from Edmonds, said he thought he did quite well in the competition.
“I got good marks from the judge,” he said, satisfied with his effort.
Twenty clans and societies were represented in the opening ceremony at noon led by members of the Scottish American Military Society. After the invocation by Riise, clan members and visitors alike enjoyed an afternoon of fun, food and Highland camaraderie.
