Celtic Festival & Highland Games 2009
Las Vegas Celtic Society, April 19, 2009
Floyd Lamb State Park, Tule Springs, Nevada
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Welcome to the Games! Las Vegas Celtic Society President and Secretary Jeff Gordon address the crowd during opening ceremonies. |
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LASPB Pipers The Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band, also known as the LA Scots, played “Amazing Grace” and few other tunes to start off the day. |
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LA Scots Drummers No pipe band would be complete without the rhythm section. |
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Leader of the Pack Scott MacDonald, President of the LA Scots, leads the band. I just love the bows on his kilt! |
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Leading the Procession A pipe band leads the way for the presentation of the clans. |
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Clan Cunningham The most festively dressed of the clans was Clan Cunningham. They all got into it, right down to their wee one. |
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The Queen and Her Court The festivities included some authentic costumers dressed as royalty. They even held court in a tent. BTW I hate it when people step into my shot. Grr. This was the only photo I got of the royals, unfortunately. |
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Music to my ears The Wicked Tinkers entertained the crowd with their unique tribal sound that blends Celtic bagpipes, drums, didgeridoo and the Bronze Age Irish horn. You wouldn’t think that those instruments would work well together but they do. Pictured from left to right, unknown horn player, Jay Atwood, Warren Casey, Aaron Shaw and Keith Jones. |
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Wicked Tinkers Drummer Keith Jones plays a wicked snare. He’s also rockin’ the hair. Right on, brother! |
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Wicked Tinkers Piper Aaron Shaw plays the pipes. He also sings lead vocals. Talent and snazzy dresser. Purple and green are my two favorite colors. They look awesome in a tartan! |
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Wicked Tinkers Wind Section An unknown lad on the Irish horn and Jay Atwood on the didgeridoo. I know what you’re thinking…since when is the didgeridoo Celtic? It’s not but it sure does sound cool. |
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Strutting His Stuff Floyd Lamb park has some great avian wildlife. There were peacocks roaming free all over the place. This one decided to show off for us. I guess he knew I love to take pictures of birds. |
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Verdant Beauty Hard to believe this scenery is near Las Vegas! The park is home to several ponds. This is the largest. |
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Cooling Off This is the last bird photo, I swear! Three Chinese geese and one lone Canadian goose frolic in the cool water of the pond. It was the hottest day of the year yet and the birds were feeling it as much as we were! |
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Throwing the Stone Amateur game participant Luke gets ready to throw the 20 pound stone. |
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Stoned Again It was 4-20 the next day, but I’m not talking about that kind of stoned! This is what a release of the stone looks like. The object is not to have any forward motion on the front foot. Those that do move that foot aren’t counted for distance and usually fall flat on their face tripping over the wood pylon anyway. |
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Hammer Toss Scott prepares to toss the 16 pound hammer, which is basically a weight attached to a flexible metal pole. His spotter can be seen in the background watching for where the hammer hits the ground. They spin that thing around at least three times and launch it without moving their feet. Their shoes have spikes that dig into the ground to limit movement. Notice the net. That was so we didn’t get beaned in the head which would hurt more than I’d like to think about! |
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Attila - Caber Toss Attila, who is aptly named, gets in position to toss a caber. |
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Caber Toss I don’t care what anyone says, throwing a giant pole so that it flips and lands at 12 o’clock is not easy. You can see the effort required to launch that puppy in this photo. |
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Aren’t kilts great? I promised you photos of men in skirts and I deliver. Scott waits his turn during the caber toss. |