"Heavy" athletes prepare to compete in the caber toss Courtesy Ligonier Highland Games
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Ligonier Highland Games
The first Scottish tartan kilt was first seen in
the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania in the year 1758 when
soldiers of the famous 42nd Highland Regiment (Black Watch), under
the command of General John Forbes, marched westward from
Philadelphia to wrest control of the fort at the forks of the Ohio
from the French. At Ligonier, which lay some 20 leagues west of
Fort Duquesne, Forbes had a wooden fort constructed that would
serve as a staging area for the final assault. The fort was named
after Lord Ligonier, who was the Commander in Chief of the British
Army at that time. The town of Ligonier, scene of the Ligonier
Highland Games, takes its name from that fort. General Forbes led
his troops to a victory that saw the French fleeing the area never
to return. Fort Duquesne was burned to the ground, and over its
ashes rose a settlement named "Pittsburgh" by Forbes in honor of
William Pitt, the British Prime Minister, who had proven to be a
friend to the Scots.
Following that conflict, known today as the French and Indian
War, many of the Scottish soldiers were offered land in the newly
won territory in lieu of being returned to their homeland. Many
took advantage of the offer and began setting up homesteads in this
heavily wooded wilderness. The Black Watch soldiers then saw
further military action in Pontiac's Rebellion, in which Indians
who were slaughtering white settlers west of the Alleghenies were
defeated. It was then that the Scots, who formed the vast majority
of settlers in the Ligonier area, started to create homes and to
build a new nation. By the time of the Revolutionary War, it is
estimated that one in three persons living in Western Pennsylvania
was of Scottish descent. The Ulster Scots (Scotch Irish, whose
families had been living in Northern Ireland prior to emigrating to
America) enlisted as soldiers in the Continental Army and became
the dependable backbone of Washington's army during the days of
Valley Forge. After the Revolutionary War, the Scots worked the
land, worked the rivers moving people and goods westward, and mined
rich veins of coal. A Scottish immigrant named Andrew Carnegie
started a company that was to become the major steel producer in
the world.
It is this long and deep Scottish heritage that the Ligonier
Highland Games in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania celebrates.
Heavily treed and traversed by a swift mountain stream, the
beautiful Laurel Highlands began to draw well-to-do Pittsburghers
for summer recreation and family outings. In 1959, thanks to the
encouragement of some prominent Pittsburghers, a modest Scottish
fall festival to acknowledge the Highlands' Scottish heritage was
begun. A charitable foundation, the Clan Donald Educational and
Charitable Trust, was organized to operate the event. The Clan
Donald Scottish Games, later called the Ligonier Highland Games,
gathered some support and attendance grew modestly. In 1969, the
Ligonier Highland Games drew a total attendance of about 1500.
Operating at a loss each year, the Games faced a questionable
future. An active public relations program, devised by David Peet,
who took over the directorship of the Games in 1969, saved the
Games. Attendance showed a 50% increase in his first year of Peet's
tenure, and continued to grow rapidly. Attendance now reaches an
average of 10,000 people annually.
Peet determined to offer a quality of competition that would
draw top bands, dancers and athletes to the Games. The Games have
continually expanded to include many aspects of Scottish culture.
Military re-enactment groups demonstrate the life lived by those
Scottish soldiers who first came to Fort Ligonier. Celtic harpers
bring the ancient melodies of the Hebrides to life; Scottish
fiddlers play lively jigs, reels and strathspeys. Scottish "heavy"
athletes compete in events used by chieftains of old to select their
most proficient men for battle. Showing the skills the go into
creating colorful kilts and plaids, weaving and dyeing
demonstrations are staged. Sixteen breeds of Scottish dogs are on
display at the games. Rugby players compete for the Ligonier Cup.
And at the Highland Games takes place the U.S. National Gaelic Mod,
a competition of singing, poetry, and drama, all performed in the
historic language of the Celtic people. At the weekend portion of
the festival, a
piobaireachd competition hosts top pipers
in a classical bagpipe open.
On Saturday, the highlight of the festival occurs when 400
pipers and drummers, comprising a huge field of massed bands, march
forward toward the assembled crowd. There are also track and field
events, with an emphasis on the "heavy" events - weight throws of
every sort: the hammer throw, the stone putt, the sheaf toss, and
the caber toss, in which a 14'- to 17'-long tree trunk is flipped
end over end. An informal Tug-of-War engages competitors of all
ages and both sexes. Children's games take place for two hours in
the morning and later in the afternoon, they are regaled with
Scottish folk tales by Barra the Bard. Entertainers are on hand to
sing, dance, and pipe both during the day and at the evening dinner
party, which serves as a climax to the fall festival. On Sunday
morning, there is a Presbyterian church service, and a short parade
to Fort Ligonier, followed by free band concert in the town's band
shell. All during the Games, merchants sell authentic Scottish
wares, such as woolens, bagpipes, handmade Celtic jewelry,
recordings of Scottish music, pots of flowering heather, and edible
treats such as shortbreads and Scottish meat pies.
Proceeds from the Ligonier Highland Games fund awards for study
in any approved workshop clinic in piping, drumming, or Highland
dancing. A major scholarship grant of $7,500 is given for graduate
study at a Scottish university of the applicants' choice.
The project is documented with an 8-page report, a program from
the 40th and 41st Annual Ligonier Highland Games (1998 and 1999),
brochures, a newspaper coverage, and twenty-one 8 x 10 color
photographs.
Originally submitted by: John P. Murtha, Representative (12th District).
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The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.
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