Costa Mesa Highland Games

**socalferg** · 1st June 10, 01:21 PM

Greetings All. Have not had the chance to post for a while due to work. Phyllis and I managed to take a mini staycation to Orange County for the Costa Mesa Highland Games and here are a few pics to share.

Friday Evening Whiskey tasting:

Leslie (LAscotswoman) on duty at the MacThomas clan tent

SoCalFerg and LAscotswoman

**cessna152towser** · 1st June 10, 01:27 PM

Super pics Andy, its lovely to see new pics of my Californian xmarks friends.
That looks quite some cool tattoo you have on your right arm - and a lovely lady on your left arm!

What is your tartan in the last pic? It looks great with the brown belt and sporran.

**socalferg** · 1st June 10, 04:37 PM

The tartan is Ferguson Weathered. The kilt was made by Rocky at USA Kilts. The leather is from Donnie at Wyvern Leatherworks.

It was great to see Leslie. Phyllis and I had brief visit with her. I must commend her...see puts a good deal of effort into support of the clan tent(s) she does and she represents them well.

And Alex, all the ladies are lovely in Southern California! We gents just have to live with it and appreciate it. The ladies just have to put up with all of us ugly dudes!

**OC Richard** · 2nd June 10, 05:35 AM

I spent all weekend at the Games, not playing for once, but just hanging out listening to the bands, and schmoozing with all the friends I only see at Games, and getting somewhat drunk...

Here are some of my photos...

It's a fairly rare treat for a Game of this size to have Pipe Bands travel so far to attend. It was awsome to have three bands in Grade One: our local Los Angeles Scottish and two from Canada, Triumph Street and Alberta Caledonia.

Here's the locals, the LA Scots, who won on Saturday:

Here's Triumph Street from Canada, who won on Sunday:

Now, this photo demonstrates that if you don't get your kilt pleated like the rest of the band, they don't let you play!

We also had a rare (for us) Grade Two contest which included our local James Coyne Memorial Pipe Band who wear an Irish County Tartan (I can't remember which)

Also visiting from Canada were Edmonton and District, fielding bands in Grade Four and Grade Three:

and Robert Malcolm Memorial from British Columbia:

and last but not least another local band, Kevin Blandford Memorial. Wow those shirts are intense.

I guess we can officially declare white hose dead, at least in the North American Pipe Band world.

**cessna152towser** · 2nd June 10, 09:47 AM

Excellent pictures Richard.
I saw Triumph Street Pipe Band at North Berwick Games in Scotland last August, they certainly appear to travel around a lot.
Good to see the bands wearing matching hose rather than white, this trend has also been noticeable here in Scotland in recent years.

**GMan** · 2nd June 10, 02:17 PM

Wonderful pictures all the around.

**BoldHighlander** · 2nd June 10, 02:46 PM

Excellent photos everyone!

**sydnie7** · 2nd June 10, 05:11 PM

Thanks for the photos! Bob and I missed the OC Games this year but will try to make it in 2011. Meantime we are looking forward to seeing everybody at Vista later this month!

**OC Richard** · 4th June 10, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by cessna152towser

Excellent pictures Richard.
I saw Triumph Street Pipe Band at North Berwick Games in Scotland last August, they certainly appear to travel around a lot.
Good to see the bands wearing matching hose rather than white, this trend has also been noticeable here in Scotland in recent years.

It is nice to see bands trending away from white hose and shirts.

As recently as the early 2000's you might see every single band at a competition wearing white hose and shirts, with black everything else (flashes, neckties, jackets, hats, waistcoats, bagcovers, drone cords) with the only colour anywhere being the kilt itself. This black thing got carried away, with a few bands even wearing black shirts (with black waistcoats and neckties, not a pleasant sight, all those not-quite-matching shades of black).

And many of the bands in Scotland went away from white hose to black hose, so there's no more colour in their kit than before.

I myself think that most bands look better in blue shirts and some sort of coloured hose. The "ancient blue" hose worn by a couple of the bands above look great, I think.

I played at North Berwick in 2007. It was an amazing Games, such a lovely location. Since it's a tune-up Games for many bands leading up to the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, there were bands from all over the world there: Brazil, Rome, Oman, New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, etc.