[music from bagpipes]
- This was the largest settlement of Highland Scots
in all of North America until well into the 19th century,
and there's a lot of vestiges of that culture and identity,
which are still present in our own community here.
- The Highland games of Scotland County bring together
clans, athletes, musicians,
and basically lovers of all things Scottish to Laurinburg
every fall.
And if you love the sound of bagpipes,
this is the place to be.
- The beers always good.
- [laughter] And we loved watching the games too.
- [Deborah] The games, of course!
The Highland Games are a real test of strength and agility.
- [woman on microphone] He's gonna have her drive the sheep
to the white barrel.
- [Deborah] There's the wheat sheet
where contestants try to heave a bale of hay
over a 17 meter bar.
The stone put; another test of strength.
[man groans]
And of course, the caber toss.
[children shouting]
[bagpipe sounds]
[cheering]
- I think of it as a septethlon of throwing heavy things;
seven events, at least, sometimes eight or nine,
and it's all heavy stuff,
and it's all throwing or tossing of some sort.
- [interviewer] So you need a nice Gaelic ale
when you're finished, right?
- Yeah and a lot of sleep and some ibuprofen, maybe.
[inaudible speech on microphone]
- [Deborah] But the games aren't limited to men only.
[cheering]
- [athlete Katrina] Yep. It's almost like a, kind of a
squat throw where you get underneath the caber and just
try to flip it up.
The goal is to get it flipped all the way over,
and it's judged on kind of a clock face,
so if you throw it and it lands straight over,
that's a 12 o'clock, that's the score you want.
If it tips over to one side or the other,
you get 11 o'clock or a 2 o'clock,
that's not as good as a 12 o'clock.
But, if it doesn't quite go over,
then you get judged on the degrees,
so like 45 degrees, that type of thing.
But the goal is a 12 o'clock, flip it over, straight ahead.
- [Deborah] On a nearby field,
the Queen City juvenile pipe and drum team
tune up for the march.
[tuning up]
- We just make the pipers and snare drums and bass drums
look good.
Like with flourishing.
[band playing]
- [Katrina] Oh, it's awesome. Yeah, it's great here.
They got a lot going on.
It's - it's nonstop bagpipes is what you hear, for sure.
A lot of good food tents. There's clan tents all around.
So it's really cool just to kind of go around and learn more
about your own heritage or even if you're not Scottish, hey,
there's a lot to learn about.
And it's very interesting and there will always be bagpipes
going on.
[bagpipes]
- [Deborah] The 2021 Scotland County Highland Games
will be held Saturday October 2nd,
on the grounds of the North Carolina Rural Heritage Center
in Laurinburg.
For more information, go to Carolina-HighlandGames.com