Highland Games returns to Central Florida

Men in kilts launch boulders, hammers and logs through the air and sailing over a green meadow. Scottish dancers weave their feet into a blur, their tartan skirts kicking up with each controlled bounce as if they were shod with springs. And, no matter where you wander, the sound of bagpipes follows.

The sights, sounds and smells are all Scotland, but if you’re a Central Florida resident, you don’t have to leave home to experience it. This weekend marks the 38th year that the Central Florida Scottish Highland Games will be held at Central Winds Park in Winter Springs.

The Highland Games runs from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets $20 in advance Saturday and $25 at the gate. Tickets $15 in advance Sunday, $20 at the gate. Children are $5. All tickets available at http://flascot.com/tickets.php

“Our goal is for everyone to hear a bagpipe playing in the park whether you like it or not,” said a laughing Chuck McGrew, vice president of the Scottish-American Society of Central Florida, the group that puts on the event.

The Games are the biggest event in Seminole County and the largest Highland Games in the Southeast, with 22,000 attendees last year. Organizers expect to have similar attendance numbers this year. The Games have athletics events to watch and participate in, Celtic influenced rock bands, Highland Dancers showing off some traditional moves, beer and Scotch whisky tastings, and an award-winning Merida look-alike all the way from Scotland who will be there to impress fans of the Disney film “Brave” with her archery. The bravest of visitors can try a plate of haggis – a traditional Scottish dish that’s a savory pudding of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs encased in its stomach.

“We do our best to present Scottish culture to the community in every way possible,” McGrew said. “It’s a little bit of Scotland for two days.”

A new addition to last year’s Games was the Quidditch demo tournament. The game made famous by J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series of books has been taken off flying broomsticks and to the ground by universities all over the world. Teams from Rollins College and the University of Central Florida will compete against each other, and Sunrise Elementary School players will show the kids attending how it’s done.

Tina Gordon Leslie brought the idea to the Games organizers, and got quite a few puzzled looks.

“They’ll go either, ‘What’s that?’ or ‘Really, when did that become a real game?’” Leslie said. “It’s a little bit of fantasy because it’s a game that started out in a storybook.”

She hoped to bring Harry Potter lovers to the Highland Games, and introduce the sport, which she calls a mix of basketball, dodge ball, soccer and rugby, to a new crowd of action lovers.

“The game is incredibly exciting,” Leslie said. “It’s a tough, rough-and-tumble game.”

While organizers are all about having fun, they also want their visitors to dig a little deeper while at the Games, especially if they have Scottish heritage they’d like to learn about. More than 40 clans will be represented and those interested in learning about their namesake can stop by their tent. Chip Crawford, president of the Scottish-American Society of Central Florida, learned about his family history through attending the Games, and found an amazing sense of self in the process. He said he’s proud to be a part of sharing that experience with as many people he can.

“Looking at your roots has got to give you some insight into who you are,” Crawford said. “The games give you the opportunity to scratch the surface.”

But you don’t have to be a Scot to be welcomed at the Games, you just have to want to have a little fun, and of course bear the blare of bagpipes, Crawford said.

“Everybody fits in; we’re all part of the big clan of humanity.”