Dear Beth:
I hope you made it through the storms without incident. Debra and I
lit a candle for you and your handsome feller. Your cruise will
come off without a hitch, I am sure.
Well, the Columbus
Scottish Festival was a lot of fun. They have lots of potential,
and I look for them to grow into quite the event in the coming
years, especially with their new location at the 4H fairgrounds.
They had out grown their former home of Mill Race Park, not to
mention that the new dates in September are by far more comfortable
than when they had them in July. This was our third year attending,
though not consecutively.
This year of 2004 has
been quite amazing for the Indiana and Kentucky Divisions of the
House of Gordon. At the Glasgow Highland Games in Glasgow, Kentucky
we were awarded both the Laura Kilpatrick Spirit Award and the
Electricscotland.com Best And Most Creative Clan Tent Award. Our
good fortune followed us to the Columbus games as well. The House
of Gordon tent was located right next to the entrance of the Harp
demonstration pavilion which provided us with a most delightful
musical backdrop all day. It was very soothing. The weather was
superb by most accounts, though I personally prefer it somewhat
cooler (it must be the Highlander in me). The visitors were
plentiful and consistent all weekend. The Ceilidh Saturday night
was excellent, with fantastic food, great entertainment featuring
our good friend Colin Grant-Adams, The Ric Blair Band, and the
Boatrights. The Ceilidh also had an exhibition of Scottish Dancing,
something that as a Clan Tent representative I rarely get to see at
the Games. As a matter of fact, about the only thing I heard, in
way of negative comments about these games, was the small amount of
vendors to shop from, though I have been assured that this problem
is being rectified. All of this said, the highlight of the games
for me happened on Sunday afternoon. I have been the Indiana State
Convener for the House of Gordon for seven years now, and while I
had often heard that there was a Gordon Pipe Band associated with
the Indianapolis Speedway I had yet to cross paths with anyone form
that particular band. That all changed on Saturday morning when one
of the Gordon 500 Pipe Band's drummers stopped by our tent. I was
quite thrilled to finally meet someone from the band. We exchanged
information and traded business cards, while having a delightful
conversation. I found out that the Band was to be a feature of
Sundays entertainment, where upon I vowed to find someway of getting
away from the tent to see them in action. Those of you who have
ever manned a clan tent will understand when I say that
circumstances did not allow me to keep my vow. Thus it was that
when I heard the wailing of the pipes Sunday afternoon, I felt
slightly depressed in that once again I was missing out on some of
the finer points of the Scottish Games. How wrong I was! It soon
became apparent that the Pipe Band presently playing was getting
closer and closer. You can imagine my surprise when from around the
Harp building came marching the Indianapolis Speedway Gordon 500
Pipe Band complete with an escort of Scottish and West Highland
Terriers. But my surprise did not end there, for no sooner had they
appeared in front of our tent when they did a right turn and marched
right into and through the tent while continuing to play for us.
After making a couple of laps through the tent they formed a half
circle just outside and continued to serenade us for several more
tunes. Following the last song, we saluted each other, I with our
tartan flag and they with their checkered winners flags, then in a
final touch, much to the delight of the ever growing crowd, they
made one last pass through our tent before continuing on down the
line of Clan Tents. Just when I thought my pride could go no
higher, a member of another Clan came over and asked if they could
barrow one of our Gordon signs in the hopes that the band would stop
by their tent on the return trip. What an afternoon. The way
things are going, I plan to start buy lottery tickets and when I win
do the games full-time. Wish me luck, and we will see you at the
Scottish Games.
