Canmore Highland Games September 4 2011

Occurring annually on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, this festival showcases Celtic culture through a wide variety of events, including piping and drumming competitions, highland dancing, heavy sports contests and sheep dog demos. The events are capped off with a Ceilidh (translation: big Scottish party), complete with food, dancing and live entertainment.

This year’s event takes place on Sunday September 4th 2011, and further details can be found in the following press release:

It is said that the first Highland Games were organized in Scotland in the 11th century. During the reign of King Malcolm III of Ceann Mór (1058 – 1093), a brae o-mar (flat meadowland) along the River Dee was used in a royal contest to determine who the strongest man in the kingdom was. Competition included a foot race to the summit of Craig Choinnich, overlooking Braemar, with the winner made royal messenger. Our town of Canmore is intertwined with Malcolm and the Highland Games. The name Canmore is an anglicised version of the Gaelic Ceann Mór, which can be translated as big head, great head or chief. It’s also claimed that one of the inspirations for Baron Pierre de Coubertin, while he was planning a revival of the Olympic Games, was a Highland Games display he saw at the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

On Sunday, September 4, 2011, the Three Sisters Scottish Festival Society proudly present their 21st annual Canmore Highland Games at Centennial Park. This is one of the signature summer events of Canmore – a full day celebration of everything Celtic, including piping and drumming, highland dancing, heavy sports, sheep dog demonstrations, clan tents, Celtic vendors, and traditional food and beverages. As well, you’ll thrill to the powerful impact of pipes and drums played en masse at the grand finale of the Games events.

A pancake breakfast kicks off the festivities with live entertainment by Fiddler’s Green in our heated festival tent. Later, Tiller’s Folly, the Pacific Northwest’s internationally travelled, virtuosic ambassadors of Celtic song, will perform throughout the afternoon. Always entertaining and definitely unique, The Mudmen, a blast of Celtic energy whose members are known to be characters both on and off stage, will perform at the evening Ceilidh. The Mudmen have appeared many times on CBC television, performed on Parliament Hill for Canada Day festivities and recorded the new Hockey Night in Canada theme song. You can see and hear Tiller’s Folly at www.tillersfolly.com and The Mudmen at www.mudmen.ca.

The event continues to inject major revenue to the local economy, calculated to be 1-2 million dollars on average. Around 85% of the 6-8,000 people who attend the Canmore Highland Games are from outside of the Bow Valley, with many staying in Canmore for at least two nights. It’s easy for anyone to order advance ticket packages for the Games or tickets for the evening Ceilidh online through www.ticketpro.ca up to 6 pm the day before, but be quick for the Ceilidh, it’s always a sold out event.

Organizers are pleased to work with the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission towards a “Toward Zero Waste” event. You can help the Games achieve at least 80% diversion from landfill disposal to recycling by dropping off you’re recyclables at the resource recovery stations on-site.

Did you know that the Canmore Highland Games has its own tartans? Designed by local weaver, Dorothy Garen, they are woven by Fraser & Kirkbright Weaving Company and registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans. The colours represent the green forests, blue sky and waters of the Bow River, the black coal underground, the white snow-capped mountains, the fuchsia mountain wildflower and yellow for sunny Alberta. See and/or buy our tartans and get more information on the Canmore Highland Games at www.canmorehighlandgames.ca.