Yellowstone Higland Games photos

[Nighthawk]

Hey there, folks! I'm home from the Yellowstone Higland Games in Billings, Montana. Heck of a weekend! Any Montana residents who didn't go missed out!

So, here's the rundown:

I am in a Denver-based living history society called the Renaissance Scots Living History Association. We attended the Yellowstone Highland Games and Scottish Festival for the first time, and we were a huge hit. The organizers liked us so much that they took us out for drinks and dinner after the festival closed down, just so they could invite us back next year.

Friday evening saw the opening ceremonies and what was billed as a ceilidh, which more accurately could have been described as a tattoo. All kinds of local performers came out, including an Irish dance troop. Billings Ceilidh Fiddlers played on heck of a performance. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because I smashed my camera screen during camp setup earlier in the day, so you'll have to forgive my lack of pictures for a lot the described events. So, here is the local pipe band:



The local Irish dance troupe:



And the highlight of the evening was a Denver based Celtic folk band called Gobs 'o Phun. They're a band who perform traditional Scottish and Irish folk music in a very traditional way. They also write a lot of their own music, songs such as Tootin' The Tartan. They're a band who make the performance fun with lively and humerus banter and funny songs peppered in with the traditional tunes. They make normal situations funny, and as we found out on Friday, they make humerous situations obscene! So here are pictures of the funny situation:







Yes, those are peacocks all over the scaffolding! By the time the show was over, there were 9 birds prancing around! They joined in with the band. If you've never heard a peacock cry, they sound a lot like a mix between a dying cat and bagpipes being tunes. And there were NINE of the things making this horrendous noise all at the same time! The Gobs had a ball with it... I bet there will be a song on the next album about peacocks...

[Nighthawk]

Nothing like a little childhood trauma... The big bearded guy is Doc. Dave, and and the twig beside is his son Garion:





You will notice the look of consternation on the poor kids face. The kid had a scar on his leg. He started out saying that it happened when he fell into a bush. Doc said to him "No, never start a story about a scar like that! There has to be a tiger involved in the story. Now get it right!" So the kid started again about how he and his friends were walking and came across a rattlesnake, which peaked Garion's attention. Garion now got into things by asking the kid how the snake related to the tiger in the bush. The kid at this point was getting very frustrated, so I chimed in with "He killed the tiger with the rattle snake, and made snake in a rope to drag the tiger's corpse home!" The conversation went on for a good 5 minutes before the kid got exasperated and went away, to Doc yelling out "Next time, come back with that tiger you killed with the snake!" Poor kid had no idea what he was in for... (Dave and Garion are two of our group's swordsmen. The fighting part of the group calls itself the Wolves of Dunvegan. Their tent had a major malfunction in the storm of the night before, so we were all sharing the main tent.)

Tent repairs:





This was the second time Saturday saw looks of consternation on the faces of people in the Ren Scots tent...

So moving right along to the textile workers, we have Carrie, our newest member, who is apprenticed to the weavers.



The kilted gentleman in the photo is Kenny, one of our other fighters. He is Garion's brother.



The older lady in the picture is Leslie. She's one of our master weavers/spinners/knitters/seamstresses.

[Nighthawk]

Next up, we have Cliff, our clan blacksmith, with Ravan, his apprentice (and also, I would add, my son):





(Head is cut off... I can't see what pictures I'm taking... Back to that stupid broken screen again... )

The boy in (almost) full garb. His truis are still in the making:



Union break (Cliff Blacksmith and Doc):



Garion creating great childhood memories for these wee'uns:







More to come!! I'm being paged to make a grocery store run.

[Nighthawk]

We in the Ren Scots do a lot of live steel combat, and we do demos showing how the Highlanders, and especially the Hanovarians and Jacobites, fought. This series of pictures shows the demonstrations from Saturday, the first picture being of our clan chief Curtis giving the initial lecture.



Introducing the combatants. In the background, from left to right, is Kenny and Garion. In the foreground, left to right, is Doc Dave, Kelton, and Curtis.



Kenny and Garion squaring off. Kenny is using a basket hilt, and Garion is using a bastard sword. Both are using targes, and showing how shields can be used offensively as well as defensively.




Muskets enter the display:





Defending against the musket barrage:

[PEEDYC]

Excellent photos. Thank You.

[cessna152towser]

Excellent pics, its always interesting to compare the different interpretations of highland games from around the world.

[Nighthawk]

Excellent pics, its always interesting to compare the different interpretations of highland games from around the world.

We are one of the educational parts of the games. We're a very unique group. Every other living history or reenactment group I have ever seen is military- we're a civilian group. We have actually all made most of our gear. That's one of the most fun things about going to the festivals- demonstrations. I gave an 11 year old Irish dancer a basic lesson on leather tooling, for example. That really is the most rewarding part of it and what made the 10 hour drive to Montana worth it.

[Kilted in Maine]

There is the proof - I knew red solo cups have been around forever....

[Nighthawk]

There is the proof - I knew red solo cups have been around forever....

Yes sir! They sure have been. Actually, we put those next to a water cooler for the general public. The games can get rather hot and drinks are expensive, so we offer water to whoever wanders in. Those of us in the group have to supply our own period drinking equipment (notice my son's drinking horn, which was a gift to him from Colorado's Fjellborg Vikings ) We don't have a license to serve drinks, though, so it has to be disposable cups. Darn ridiculous laws...

And as a side note, we used to organize swordman's tournaments every six months, but people stopped coming because our guy always win. Here are a few videos from the last one we did. You'll notice some familiar people in there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erVv-f5h9EM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6i4Ps68i9U

The tall lanky guy in the black pants would be Daniel Sorenson. He almost always wins... He's wicked fast an mobile, and loves to teach. He kicks your butt 10 different ways, and then teaches you how he did it and how to defend against it next time. Not that it matters... You have to be faster than him to defend yourself!!

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I wish we could have gone!

Donell Small (one of the event organizers/pipe major of the local band) owns a brewery so of course he treated you! If you hang around long enough afterwards to help clean up, he'll treat anybody for further reference.

And those peacocks...when we went to the Yellowstone games in '08 one decided to march in front of the Massed Bands and display his tail. LOL!

You guys should go to somewhere that sells party supplies. The Shrek 4 disposable cups look like they're made of wood. Stock up!