Embro Highland Games

Tuesday, 1 July 2014 05:55

Scottish-flair will be front and centre in Embro on Tuesday with the Embro Highland Games.

EMBRO – Pipers, drummers, highland dancers and feats of strength will all be on display Tuesday at the Embro Highland Games.

"We're welcoming everyone to come out and visit us in Embro at the Highland Games. We're the oldest Highland games in Ontario, and we cherish the fact that we're family fun with Scottish-flair," said Warren McKay, a member of the Embro Highland Games committee.

"We have nearly 250 dancers registered again this year," McKay said, adding some of the dancers are from Scotland and the United States for the Canada Day tradition.

"We're looked upon as being the warm-up for the international and the Canadian finals," he said.

Men and – for the first time in the Embro Highland Games-history – women, will put their raw power to the test and compete in a group of demonstrations called the Ontario Heavy Events, McKay said.

"They put on a great show, tossing the caber, throwing the old field stone, doing the shot put, and sheaf tossing," he said.

The games' tug of war event continues to draw visitors from South of the border.

"We have teams coming from Wisconsin and it's to memorialize the 1893 world tug of war event," he said. "We're happy to have that event going on and continuing that bond of friendship with our American neighbours."

The heavy events, McKay said, have a long tradition in Scottish-culture.

"The farmers and people that landed here from Scotland in the 1830s were certainly strong men but by that time they had quit their warring factions and were looking at ways they could perform strengths in order to beat the neighbours out,"

The games are planned to run from Tuesday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Embro Zorra Community Centre. In the event of rain, some outdoor events including Highland dancing will be moved indoors to the arena.

More information can be found on the Embro Highland Games website.