Review of The Virginia Scottish games

[Jerry]

Alex Beaton and Rathkelter were good. That is just about the only good thing. Geoffrey Tailor's booth didn't have any , or very few kilts on display that I could find. They did have some polyvis tartans for $30 a yard. Clan Leatherworks had some nice sporrans, but they were way overpriced. The non-fur sporrans were nice and seemed well made, but David (Freedlander) makes sporrans as good or better at a fairer price. The whole day started way wrong. My wife and I were refused entry into handicap parking, even though she was is on Oxygey for COPD.* I have handicap plates for my arthritus and my wife also had her placcard Instead, we were told to park at some school and catch the shuttle back 4 or 5 blocks to the park. After getting the last spot at that school, we sat and waited for nearly 30 minutes for a shuttle bus. Several passed by without stopping at the school so my wife said, "let's walk"' We took another half hour to make the walk, because my wife had to stop several times to catch her breath. When we got there, and got our tickets, which we had previously ordered, I went looking for a site map, so we could find our way around and was inforned that I had to purchase a 5 dollar program to get the map and event schedule. WE only made it as far as the amphitheater, where we saw Alex Beaton and rathkelter perform. Of course it rained everytime Rathkelter got on stage, so we never did see a whole set from them. When they were rained out during their second set, We decided to leave. We were both pretty wet, and my wife's oxygen was running low. We tried to wait for a shuttle again, but after 10 minutes of standing in the rain my wifew said "let's go" WE had to stop several more times on the way back, especially after my wife's oxygen ran out. It was during one of these rest stops that pretty much the highlight of the whole day took place. I heard someone say, "I've been looking to see one of those shirts" (my Xmarks tee shirt) and I met our newest member , PaulX608 and his wife. We stood there in the rain, now about to stop, and talked about kilts and this forum. He said he had a kilt on order and had been lurking here, reading the forum. I told him, "you don't have to have your kilt to join, just be interested in them." I see he took my advice and signed up. (Welcome to the forum, Paul.)
All in all it wasn't a good day. The Virginia Scottish games was the worst run and most money hungry event I have ever attended. They had totally inadequate parking, a nearly non-existant shuttle service, and was so spread out that it was totaly un-handicap friendly. The only problem beyond control of the event planners was the weather. Needless to say, I will never attend that event again. Williamsburg's Scottisg festival is in two weeks. I'll be at that one. It does have parking, the entertainment stages are under tents, They are cheaper on tickets, have more vendors and even give visitors a free program and site map.

[PaulX608]

Thanks for that, JerMc. It was really nice to meet you guys, too. We got there around 0930, hoping the drizzle would clear as the weather predictors predicted. This, as you pointed out, was not to be the case. We managed to make about one and a half circuits of the whole event before the rain held us up for quite a while and we decided to leave.

Alex Beaton, although admittedly having a bit of bronchial trouble, sounded great to me. I also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with him for a while and my wife bought me two more of his CDs for my collection. Rathkelter sounded good, but the rain really kept them from getting a good start. Heard some good piping here and there, oohed and aahed at the cars in the car show, ate a lamburger, and got invited to a curling bonspiel in Laurel, MD next month.

To defend the event's organizers just a bit, the event has previously been held at the Episcopal HS across the street from the school at which we parked. That venue would have been flatter and better laid out instead of the cross country, over hill and dale hike through that park. According to them, construction at the school prevented them from having it there and resulted in a hasty reconfugure to what we experienced.

On the other hand, the fact that you guys were refused entrance to the hadicapped parking is shameful. My wife and myself aren't exactly athletes, but we walk alot and I think I'm pretty fit for a fat guy. The walk from that school to the gate was a real chore. The walk back was at least downhill, but still longer than I would have liked. If they have it back at the Episcopal HS next year, I'll give them one more chance.

I met and chatted with a few folks and had, in general, a pretty good time. First was a guy from the clan Wallace tent with whom I spoke for a while. He was very helpful with kilt pointers, dos and don'ts, and clan affiliation advice. Met another nice fellow eatin' some haggis under a tree while we were hiding from the biggest of the rains during the day. Thinking eveyone here was nice, I aprroached a kilted officer representing one of the many police orginizations there, and asked about the tartan he was wearing. He was quite short with me and a little rude, and he said gruffly "I have no idea" and turned away.

On the way back to the car, all of us wet just about through our shirts, I spotted the X-Marks T-shirt. I was, at first, hesitant to approach but my wife spurred me on, so I made my "I've been looking for one of those shirts all day" comment, after which we had the great pleasure of metting JerMc and his wife. They were great, and renewed my good will about kilted folks. I'll definitely be in Richmond next month, in kilt.

Thanks for the welcome to the forum, JerMc. I look ever forward to my kilted days ahead, and hope to learn and contribute as much as possible here. Sorry to make my first post so long winded, hopefully I'll offset that tendency of mine with quality content in the future. Thanks again.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Sorry to hear about your experience JerMc. It is truly a let down when you plan on attending an event for some fun and it turns out poorly.

And PaulX608, Welcome to the forum!

[starbkjrus]

Jerry,

I'm sorry you and Annette had such a bad time. We did not make it down (the whole day just went wrong) as we ended up in the wrong end of the wrong county too late in the morning to get back home, changed and all the way down there. Sounds like I should be glad we didn't.

Have fun in Williamsburg.

[Randy]

Yes, this year was awful. The rain was worse than the July heat. I hated the round and round to go places. I miss be able to look across the field and see folks. Lapping the games made it seem smaller than in the past. When driving the local police still wave you on to other officer that have their backs to you. The rain was heavy at times.

On the other hand doing it all in one day meant I could see the cars this year. I need a Land Rover, please.

Our group was 7 strong but we did not meet any other XMarks there. We adjourned to 5 Guys about 1700ish.

I most likely be there next year, marking this down as a fluke but writing to the Games with my feedback.

[PaulX608]

And PaulX608, Welcome to the forum!

Thank you very much. I look forward to meeting more of y'all in the future.