McB and I attended Gallabrae – Greenville Scottish Games on Memorial Day weekend. The festivities were held at Furman. In addition to pipers, the event featured border collie competitions, Highland dancing, heavy athletics like caber and sheath tossing, a Celtic music tent, and a British car show.

We were both pretty impressed with Gallabrae. There were a number of things going on simultaneously and you could easily find something to suit your fancy.

If you’ve never been to the games before, I would definitely recommend going next year.

At $15 per adult, it’s not the cheapest event; but, the wide variety of activities makes it a good value.

In the spirit of sharing, I would offer these lessons to make your day a bit more enjoyable.

• Arrive early. The traffic snarls quite a bit and you don’t want to miss anything while waiting in a long line.
• Consider taking a bag chair or blanket. Seating is very limited and while there is a lot of grass to sit on, some of it is oddly rough and scratchy.
• Save money by printing out a schedule from the website or going to the festival tent to see the full program instead of buying one.
• If you don’t mind buying a program, get it early. They were sold out around noon on Saturday.
• Wear a hat and sunscreen. There is very little shade.
• Take cash for the vendors, especially those selling water and cold beverages.
  • Go to the opening ceremony. This year we saw a team parachuting down with American and Scottish flags, pipers, and the parade of clans.
• Visit the British car show on your way out. The cars are in a nice shady area that’s not unbearable in the heat of the day.

Here are a few more images from the day. After looking at these and recounting the day, I’m really looking forward to the 2013 event.