Pinellas News

Clans gathering for 41st time in Dunedin

Mark Schantz
The Suncoast News
Published: March 31, 2007

DUNEDIN, Fla. - DUNEDIN, Fla. - Thirty-three Celtic clans from around the world will fill Highlander Park, today, Saturday, for the 41st Annual Dunedin Highland Games.
Dunedin Highland Games and Festival Committee pays homage to the city's Scottish roots today, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. , with Celtic music and dance, traditional athletic competition and culinary delights.
Along with numerous pipe bands and drummers, entertainers for the event will include J.J. Smith from Stonehaven, Scotland; Noel Cooney, local singer and owner of Flanagan's Irish Pub; and the local Scottish Country Dancers.
Celtic rock group the Seven Nations Band will perform at 12:30 and 4 p.m.
Sandy Keith, Highland Game chairman, said there will be more of everything his year, from dancing and piping, to the always spectacular Highlands sports competition and some great food.
The traditional athletic events will include the caber toss, stone put, the Scottish hammer throw, sheaf toss, weight throw for distance and height and other contests of power and agility.
"The dedication and strength shown and displayed by these athletes while wearing a kilt is always interesting to see," Barri Baucom, Highland Games Athletic Committee chairwoman, said.
This year's competitors will come from all over the country, she said. Athletes must be experienced to participate in contests, except the Dunedin Stone toss.
Many athletes take up Celtic sports after competing in other arenas, such as football, Baucom said.
The caber toss is one of the premier athletic events, Baucom said. A caber is an 18-to-22 foot long wooden pole weighing from 100-to-150 pounds.
The competitors strive to "pull a nooner," a perfectly executed end-over-end flip with the caber.
Since 1966, a portion of the Highland Games proceeds help fund the City of Dunedin Pipe Band, Dunedin High School Scottish Highlanders Band and Dunedin Highland Middle School Band.
Admission to the festival is $10 a person. Children 12 and younger are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.
On Saturday, April 14 the Highland Games Committee hosts its Dunedin Military Tattoo, a regalia of Scottish marching bands, at Dunedin High School Memorial Stadium starting at 7:30 p.m.
This year's event welcomes the Virginia Military Institute Band, Keith said.
Local expert pipe and drum bands and traditional dancers expected to perform include: Dunedin Highland Middle School Band, Dunedin High School Scottish Highlanders Band, Berkeley Preparatory School Marching Band and Pipe Band, City of Dunedin Pipe Bands, Tampa Bay Pipes & Drums, St. Andrew's Pipes & Drums of Tampa Bay, Dunedin's Scottish Highland Dancers and Scottish American Society's Scottish Country Dancers.
Tickets to the Tattoo are $15 at the gate for adults, $5 for children 6 to 12, with younger children admitted free.