People were lined up for hamburgers and fish and chips at 9:30am on Saturday.
At a time the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games should have been just waking up and moving into the day, it was already booming. There was a lineup at a booth selling hats. Other booth operators were already talking with potential customers, or scurrying to get opened because the crowds were there.
By 11am, traffic was hardly moving down Belsyde Avenue and the parking lots were full. One festival official called that sudden shortage of parking a “crisis,” but Bruce Lloyd said he figured it was an opportunity. He thanked Russ Spicer, who provided space on his nearby property for an extra 500 vehicles.
“We feel our parking staff did an excellent job,” Lloyd said.
Craig MacGregor is this year’s festival treasurer and he was also the “garbologist.” He was unable to say how much was being collected at the gate, but, “Our garbage was way up.”
While the grounds remained nearly spotless, an army of volunteers emptied the bins. MacGregor took their work as a good sign.
“To me, that’s a happy vendor,” he said. He added that artistically, the festival was also a success, noting, “Any time there was entertainment on, it was a packed venue.”
The festival got off to a great start last Thursday night when festival organizers, an army of volunteers and the Fergus Legion brought back to the downtown the parade that had been a part of the show for many years but was dropped in the early 1990s.
Festival board president Deb Dalziel kept saying all weekend, “I’m tickled tartan.”
She was particularly pleased with all the volunteers and cited their hard work. She said bringing back the parade was particularly stressful. First, she and the organizers wondered if anyone would watch it. Then they wondered if anyone would take part in it. Then they received so many requests to take part she wondered again if anyone would be left to watch.
Finally, she said, there could have been major problems without Don Doyle, an organizer for the Fergus Santa Claus parade. She said he had about 15 volunteers to help get the parade settled, but soon decided to call for more help, which quickly arrived.
Restaurants, too, were busy. Said Rebecca O’Brien, of the Goofie Newfie, “It was crazy. After the parade we were packed until 2am.” She had heard the same of other restaurants and bars in the downtown and she wants a repeat next year.
At the Breadlabane, Robin Laing, a whisky expert, was leading a scotch nosing but the fire alarm went off twice. He said with the second alarm two fully dressed firefighters came through the door, only to see him standing there with a glass of scotch in his hand.
He noted the fire hoses and, as only a Scot can, dryly told them, “If I want water in my whiskey, I’ll put it in myself.”
The international fireworks competition, with the fireworks set to music, between Fergus and its twin, Blairgowrie, Scotland, also played to a packed house. Dalziel said some told her the fireworks contest was a draw.
“I think Canada won,” she said with a smile, and added, “I say that lovingly.”
There were other winners in the Highland Games part of the weekend.
Sean Betz was the winner in the hotly contested Heavy Events. Local favourite Warren Trask won in the Master’s category for competitors over age 40.
In the women’s division, Adriane Blewitt came out on top, and in the amateur section, the winner was Brian Austin.
The top regional athletes were John Jans and Julia McGeachie.
MacGregor noted on Saturday it was the first three days of a festival in recent memory that did not receive any rain. It did finally drizzle at about 2:15pm last Sunday, but only enough to settle the dust.
Philip Nappi, of Blairgowrie, was the chairman of the committee behind the twinning of Fergus and his home town.
He noted one of the founders of Fergus, Adam Fergusson, lived in Blairgowrie. He said he was thoroughly enjoying the festival, and took the opportunity have a photo of himself with Dalziel and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer to take home with him.
He also enjoyed meeting with a number of the Fergus people involved in starting the twinning process.
Centre Wellington Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj was pleased to help open the festival and particularly happy the parade had been such a success. She and her daughter, Katherine, were wearing the tartan of Clan Ross, which was the featured clan at the Festival this year.
The focus of this year’s festival was to thank the volunteers, and Dalziel said as she toured the grounds a number of people stopped her and mentioned how smoothly everything was running.
She said the festival itself had 260 registered volunteers, and there were many others in the form of service groups who were part of the four-day show.
MacGregor was asked why there were so many younger volunteers in evidence, taking care of such things as parking.
“The focus of the festival is to bring a new generation in,” he said.
He added the festival qualifies for grants for such things as heritage and its educational component, and bringing in a new, younger group of volunteers is part of that.
There were very few injuries to report, too.
Laura Bailey, the superintendent of the cadet division of St. John Ambulance, said in an interview on Sunday afternoon people seem to be getting smarter. Crowds brought along bottled water and sunscreen, and consequently there were few illnesses, despite the heat.
She said the work with people was “fewer than we expected.”
She added the overcast day and a bit of a breeze also helped.
