I'm a member of the Heather & Thistle Society (H&T) and the Houston Highland Games Association (HHGA). Currently, the H&T's sole purpose is to produce the annual Rabbie Burns Supper and the HHGA's responsibility it to produce the annual Houston Highland Games and Celtic Festival. At one time, both the games and the supper were the responsibility of the H&T, but it became difficult for them to handle both events, so the HHGA was spun off a few decades ago. The H&T and the Burns Supper continue to operate well despite a lower attendance; however, the games/festival is a much more difficult thing to organize and there have been pains over the years to get talented people to dedicate their time and efforts to a thankless enterprise. There is a lot of politicking that complicates the process as well. A few years ago, I was in charge of the Celtic dog exhibit, which was a fun thing to put together, but my business travel picked up considerably, so my participation in both the H&T and the HHGA was cut back significantly. Unlike the H&T, there has not been an effort to groom younger replacements for those that have aged to the point of retirement, so the HHGA is suffering this year.