This weekend was the Alma Highland Games in Alma, MI (aka Scotland USA). The weather forecast was calling for rain and storms all weekend, but fortunately the forecasters were pretty much totally wrong! It rained a bit on Saturday morning and then was mostly clear the rest of the day. And Sunday rained for about an hour in the morning and then cleared up completely and was 80, sunny, and windy the rest of the day. The wind did really interesting things for the caber toss. That's what the picture above is from. The goal of the caber toss is to flip the caber (wooden pole) end over end so that the end that you were originally holding on to falls away from you.
Alma Highland Games are also a competition site for the MidWest Pipe Band Association. So there were a number of bands from around the Michigan and Midwest region that came to compete, including http://the Ann Arbor Pipes and Drums which is the band that DW helped to found and played with for many years. Flint Scottish Pipe Band was also there (had to give some text space to my hometown pipers) and they were one of the biggest bands there and looked and sounded great. Rounding out the bands that I know people in was the Grand Traverse Pipes & Drums. My friend Traci plays swing tenor (it's one of the supporting tenor drums that involves a lot of flashy stick flourishes more then actual playing, but besides the bagpipes themselves it's one of the harder positions to do well because you have to time the flourishes with the music and still beat your notes in time with the rest of the section). She actually technically plays with Superior Pipes & Drums, who are based out of Marquette, MI but they were competing with Grand Traverse this year as they were less than a year old and are still a very small group. GTP&D had some problems the first day of competition but sounded much better the second day. Each day of competition ends with Massed Bands where awards for the day are given out and all of the bands combine to play a number (usually Amazing Grace) and if you have never heard 100 pipers and 75 drummers play all at once it is defiantly something to witness at least once in your lifetime.
In addition to all of the music and athletic competitions there are any number of vendors and displays about Scottish heritage and life. This includes the awe inspiring Highland Cattle farm that brings some of their beautiful animals to show at the Highland Festival. They are pretty resilient animals and they produce a lean, well-marbled beef because they can rely on the thick hair to keep them warm instead of excess fat. (Plus, they're really fun to pet!)
So that was my fun filled Memorial Day weekend! I have to be up and at work at 8am tomorrow (so not fair, having to work on Memorial Day) so I'm going to go and try to get some sleep. Hope that everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day celebration!!