The Daily Times

The dogs didn’t mind the Saturday afternoon heat, and neither did several thousand other people who converged on the Maryville College campus for the opening day of the Smoky Mountain Highland Games.

Bill Coburn’s border collies traveled with their master and a half-dozen sheep to show off for the crowds who gathered along the rim of the college’s soccer practice field. On one end, Coburn stood stoically, stick in hand, and gave the dogs their commands with sharp blasts of a whistle. Tongues lolling from grinning furry faces, they low-crawled through the grass, circling the herd, bringing them to a halt, directing them right or left.

Several yards away, grown men in kilts lifted weights connected by a short length of chain to a handgrip, muscled arms rippling beneath the skin as they heaved those objects for both height and distance. Beneath tents nearby, Scotsmen and women of the various clans searched through books for Scottish genealogical ties, helping novices discover whether their family tree extends all the way back to Glasgow or Edinburgh. The beer tent was filled to capacity no matter the time of day, and the main entertainment tent, where Celtic-flavored bands and musicians alternated between rowdy songs of drinking and fighting and slower laments of death and loss, was near as full.

And that was all in the lower field.

It’s no wonder, then, that the games were a resounding success, according to President Cliff Fitzsimmons.

“We surpassed our own expectations, and we met what the city told us we would get,” Fitzsimmons said, estimating that roughly 5,000 people attended the event on Saturday. “At the opening ceremony, we already knew we had a success, and we told people that it’s an opportunity for other communities around Maryville to participate in the future, so go out and recruit more volunteers to help next year.

“We didn’t have enough volunteers for everything we needed to do — but that’s a great problem to have. I’ll find the volunteers.”

By 4 p.m., when the assembled bagpipers and drummers began their march for the massed bands presentation, most of the food vendors were getting low on haggis, the Scottish dish made of liver, oats and other ingredients — and Scottish eggs were already sold out. Vendors reported a steady flow of visitors, although many who turned out for Saturday’s festivities did so prepared.

Alex Hamilton, 12, and his brother Houston Hamilton, 15 — the sons of Jim and Michelle Hamilton of Maryville — were both attired in Scottish kilts, hose and white cotton shirts. Although both said it’s not something they’d wear to class on a daily basis, they certainly weren’t out of place at the Highland Games.

“One of my friends was here and saw me, and he thought it was pretty cool,” Alex said.

The brothers got interested in their Scottish ancestry through their father, Houston added.

“Me and my dad have always liked doing history, and we’ve tracked our family history back to Scotland in the 1700s,” he said. “We’re the seventh generation to live in our house. Being here, wearing this — it just feels like we’re honoring our ancestors. It makes me feel good about our heritage.”

Others demonstrated their heritage through more labor-intensive means — the Caber toss, a competition that basically amounts to heaving a telephone pole weighing anywhere from 150 to 275 pounds, drew plenty of spectators, and a national record was broken in the sheaf toss, Fitzsimmons said.

“Thirty-four feet, 7 inches — that’s throwing a 16-pound weight up overhead, over a bar,” he said.

Even more impressive is that the athletic activities were carried out in unusual heat for a spring day in May, with temperatures approaching 90. Some older visitors required golf cart assistance as the mercury climbed, Fitzsimmons said, and water and lemonade were selling at a brisk pace. Even the Honored Guest of the games, Lord Hugh Montgomerie, commented on the weather.

“It’s too bloody hot,” he said. However, he added, if that’s the only complaint he and others associated with the event have, then the event has been a successful one.

“For your average person, and for clansmen, it’s very much about roots — how far back we go, and how we can get further back,” he said. “It looks very impressive so far, and it’s a very good turnout. We’ve had the games before in Gatlinburg, and this seems to be the preferred location.”

For City of Maryville Events Coordinator Jane Groff, Saturday’s turnout was a nice confirmation of assurances city and college officials made to the board of directors of the games — have it at Maryville College, and they will come.

“I think all along, we had anticipated that folks would get out and support these games because it’s so unique,” she said. “People around here just enjoy cultural events, so we kind of anticipated a big crowd, and we’re happy we were able to get it. According to the Highland Games folks, they couldn’t be more happy with the fields and the facilities that the college has for them, and from what I understand, they’re in it for the long haul.

“I think it just shows what all we have going on in this community. All the planets aligned to allow us to be able to host an event that’s really been going on for 30 years now, and we have an opportunity with the space we have to grow it even further. I think it has a lot of potential to get even bigger.”

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