FERGUS – If the Saturday morning traffic on Scotland Street and Belsyde Avenue was any indication, this year’s Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games were shaping up to be a success.
Cars crept forward, making their way to park at the festival grounds at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex, while kilt-clad and tartan-draped pedestrians made their way from nearby streets, looking forward to checking out what the festival had to offer.
By midday, crowds of cadets were arriving by the busload.
Festival organizers won’t have an estimate of how many people attended the event until well after it’s all wrapped up, but executive director Elizabeth Bender seemed pleased with the turnout.
“Walking through the crowds, it’s packed and everyone seems to be having an amazing time,” Bender said on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to the Advertiser from a relatively quiet corner of the festival grounds, Bender noted the enthusiastic crowd noise that could be heard, even from a distance.
“The competitions are incredible,” she said, listing the heavy events, highland dance, and pipe and drum competitions among some of the biggest draws to the festival.
In the background cheers rang out for the athletes attempting to outdo one another in an event in which they toss a 56-pound weight as high as they possibly can, using only one hand.
The cheering of the crowd was drowned out only by the wail of bagpipes.
“Pipes and drums are flooding the place,” said Bender, smiling.
Aubre Scott, left, and sister Lillian Scott practise near the competition grounds at the Fergus Scottish Festival on Saturday.
Photo by Jessica Lovell
While bands from all over Ontario played for judges on one field, spectators numbering in the high hundreds surrounded the heavy events on the adjacent field.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the festival grounds, velvet-vested dancers performed reels, sword dances and highland flings.
One festival-goer said she found herself getting emotional watching the highland dancers compete.
Emily Dalziel said she was a former highland dancer herself, but hadn’t been to the festival in recent years.
She had come with her father and sister on Saturday, and said there was a nostalgic element to watching the dancers.
“We enjoyed the heavy competition, too,” she said.
Highland dancers, from left, Diane Bell of Windsor, Michiko Bown-Kai of Glen Morris, and Rileigh Rodych of Uxbridge perform a sword dance, one of four dances required in the competition on Saturday. Photo by Jessica Lovell
While the competitions were a big draw, there were also lots of other things to see and do, including:
- an expanded heritage area featuring agricultural and craft demonstrations;
- the popular clans tents;
- a Whisky Village and a Highland Pub, featuring live music;
- concessions and craft vendors; and
- a popular kids’ activity area.
The McKiddies Centre included a variety of hands-on activities, from sword fighting to curling and golf, and it seemed the heavy events were not just for the big guys.
Jim Farquharson enjoyed watching his seven-year-old grandson test his strength at a caber-toss centre using a smaller, padded version of the poles hefted by the professionals.
Farquharson, whose grandson was visiting from Japan, said he has volunteered with the festival for about 25 years, and remembers the days when it was a much smaller event at Victoria Park.
“It’s just gotten bigger and bigger, and better and better,” he said.
If the festival seemed bigger this year, Bender said that’s with good reason.
“We’ve spread our footprint out, and tried some new things this year,” she said, noting the number of vendors was increased, and some festival venues were made bigger.
“And from what I’m seeing today, that has been incredibly successful,” she said.
