FERGUS – The best in the world will descend on Fergus this summer as the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games has been selected to host the 2023 World Heavy Events Championship.
“We’re thrilled to be host for 2023 event,” said festival executive director Elizabeth Bender.
“It will bring the best heavy events athletes in the world and will be one of the big highlights of the festival this year.”
Bender said the festival was invited to host the Worlds in 2020, but the in-person festival was cancelled that year and the next because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She explained the existing amateur heavy events competition will still go on and organizers will schedule contests so they don’t conflict.
“This is a huge bonus to the already existing event that’s already very popular,” she added.
As well as heavy events, highland dance and pipe and drum band competitions also go on over the weekend.
“Education and heritage are also important aspects of the festival,” Bender said.
Visitors can learn about genealogy and clans, there are guest speakers, lectures, Celtic musicians, a McKiddies Centre and vendors.
“It’s also a music festival in a way, and a foodie festival. It’s a bit of everything,” Bender added.
“There really is a lot going on in that space.”
Last year organizers put on the first in-person festival since the pandemic and 26,000 visitors came through the gate – the highest attendance in the festival’s history.
Bender said they had a strong volunteer force, but some longtime volunteers had moved away and some were still nervous about large gatherings.
That left organizers needing and using every volunteer who had signed up.
“We still had enough to run the event safely, but we didn’t expect 26,000 people,” she said.
“People worked so hard to make sure things would happen.”
Bender said officials are working with other local groups on volunteer strategies. Anyone interested can learn more at the festival website.
Announcements about special guests and performers are expected over the coming months, but tickets and campsite reservations open March 1.
“Campsites tend to sell out quickly – like less than half an hour, quickly,” Bender said.
She added camping is popular with participants and people who want to stay the whole weekend.
The festival, in conjunction with Centre Wellington Township, improved hydro, water, internet and other infrastructure on the grounds last summer and reconfigured the campsites to add a few more sites.
The upgrades have improved the experience and safety for campers, vendors, participants and visitors, Bender said.
Also on March 1, applications for concessions open as well as clan registration.
The festival is slated for Aug. 11 to 13 at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex in Fergus.
For tickets, camping, to volunteer or be a vendor, visit fergusscottishfestival.com.
