Seaside Highland Games Return to the Ventura County

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Wednesday, 01 October 2014 13:47

Ventura, California, September 26, 2014  - The 12th Annual Seaside Highland Games return to the Ventura County Fairgrounds (10 W Harbor Blvd.) the weekend of October 11 & 12, with over eighty clans and societies, bagpipe and drum bands from many Western states. There will be competitions in pipes, drums, dance, athletics, drum majoring and fiddles.

  

ACTIVITIES:
Grand Parade & Opening Ceremonies at noon on Saturday.
Heavy athletes "throwing stuff" and herding dog demonstrations and Heeland Coos.
The US Marine Band will be performing with local pipe bands.
The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band from Miramar will perform on Saturday.
Children's Glen with Celtic craft demos, storyteller and athletics for all ages.
A Haggis eating contest will be sponsored by Charles Lamb. 
Seaside Open Golf Tournamenton Thursday.
Single Malt Scotch Tasting event and "A Scottish Evening" on Friday at the Four Points Sheraton.
Scottish food & drink.
Harp Glen and "Harp Petting Zoo" 
A Tea Room will be created by The Welsh Bakery.
Listen to Celtic Spring
Classroom sessions in Gaelic language, genealogy/history and Scotch appreciation.
Scottish, Celtic and Irish vendors selling unique and one-of-a-kind items. 

Admission is $5 to $16. For more information go to www.seaside-games.com or call John & Nellie at818-886-4968. 

HISTORY OF THE HIGHLAND GAMES:  
The Games uphold a Scottish tradition dating back more than a thousand years under the sponsorships of kings and clan chiefs. Competition served a variety of martial, sporting and religious functions. The Clan Chiefs used them to recruit staff. Winners of races made excellent couriers and the strongest men made fine bodyguards. The athletes and wrestlers, retained by rival chiefs, were often matched in competition at important gatherings. Dancers and pipers were taken into the chief's household, not just for entertainment value, but the glory their prowess would reflect on their masters on such occasions. Through the centuries, the men of the villages gathered once a year - perhaps their only holiday - and passed the day exercising their strength in athletic competition and playing the bagpipes and performing traditional dances. Today, Scottish Games are held in all parts of the world where Scots, by birth or ancestry, have made their home. Games are so popular now in the United States, that one or more Games can be attended somewhere in the country almost every week of the year.

The Seaside Highland Games were organized to fill the void of a Scottish presence in California's Central Coast and to round out the year of Scottish Games activities. The SHG is a nonprofit public benefit corporation organized for the educational purposes of sharing Scottish history, art, literature, music and tradition. It is governed by a Board of Directors and is a 501(c)(3) organization. www.seaside-games.com

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