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Brace yourself for the chords of bagpipers reverberating through town — it’s Labor Day weekend, which for Pleasanton residents is synonymous with the annual Scottish Highland Gathering and Games at the fairgrounds.
This is the 25th year the festival has taken over the Alameda County Fairgrounds, but the games are older than that, with 2018 marking the gathering’s 153rd anniversary of existence.
The two-day event attracts thousands — in 2015, the games brought in nearly 50,000 attendees, the largest Scottish gathering ever in the U.S. Last year’s attendance numbers took a dip due to the 100-plus degree weather, however, organizers said.
“We’re expecting a much better games than last year, where we had a temperature of 115 degrees,” said Floyd Busby, spokesman for the Caledonian Club of San Francisco. “This year we expect the weather to be much, much better.”
The festivities run from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
The event, hosted by the Caledonian Club, is an all-encompassing celebration of Scottish heritage, from more traditional showcases like dancing and Celtic music to appearances from modern-day television stars like Hafthor Bjornsson of “Game of Thrones” fame, who will attempt to break his own unofficial record of throwing a 56-pound weight 20 feet three inches in the air.
The 16th century Mary, Queen of Scots will wander through the crowds, and visitors can hang out with Clydesdales and Highland Cattle at the Amador Pavilion.
Haggis and corned beef are available for purchase (along with the fairgrounds’ standard American fare), and for those seeking a chance to pull out their old kilts, both days will kick off with a “kilted mile” competition at 10 a.m. And of course, over 35 pipe bands from across the U.S. and Canada will close out both days with their Grandstand Show.
Nearly 100 Scottish clans will collect near the entrance of the fairgrounds, for the “Gathering of the Clans.” Visitors are invited to stop by and investigate or research their own Scottish heritage.
The event has roots in 1860s San Francisco, though many of the games and traditions hark back 1,000 years, with heavy athletics events serving as tests of strength for Scottish troops — the weights looked a bit different, however, with tree trunks serving as cabers, and rocks from river beds used for distance tosses.
Centuries later, across the Atlantic Ocean and then some, the Caledonian Club of San Francisco held its inaugural games at Hayes Park in the city on Thanksgiving Day 1866 — “more of a family picnic and athletic contest,” according to event organizers on their website.
The games have been held annually ever since, and as the event has grown, they have migrated around the Bay Area: they were held in San Francisco, Sausalito, Oakland and Santa Rosa before settling at Pleasanton’s fairgrounds in 1994.
“The games really haven’’t changed a great deal,” Busby said, but rather grown. Which is what brought them to Pleasanton in the first place.
One-day tickets are $25 for adults, $13 for seniors and youth; two-day tickets are $40 for adults and $25 for seniors and youth. Kids 11 and under and military members with active duty ID can enter for free.
Featured events
* Kilted Mile — 10 a.m. both days
* 44th U.S. Invitational Heavy Events — 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. both days
* Traditional Celtic dancing and music — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days
* Celebrity appearances by Gary Lewis (actor, “Outlander”) and Hafthor Bjornsson (The Mountain on “Game of Thrones”) — 9-11:45 a.m. and around 1:30-4:30 p.m. both days
* Celtic rock band performances — 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
* Closing Ceremonies — 4 p.m. both days.
New bus for vets
The Scottish Games have served a charitable purpose as well as a cultural one. Through donations mostly received at the Pleasanton games along with a large donation from the St. Andrew’s Society of San Francisco, the American Friends of Erskine were able to recently send $62,000 to a veterans hospital in Scotland for the purchase of a specialized bus.
This marks the second 16-seat bus the organization has sent to Scotland’s Erskine Care Homes, the first one being donated in 2016.
The care homes, founded in 1916 to care for returning World War I soldiers and sailors, currently has four sites across Scotland and provides residential, nursing, dementia, palliative and respite care for around 800 veterans, their spouses and widows/widowers every year. The buses are used to take homebound Erskine residents on outings or to necessary appointments.
The American Friends of Erskine will be soliciting donations at the fairgrounds this weekend; donations are also accepted online.
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The games will also feature the U.S. Invitational Heavy Events. (Photo courtesy of Caledonian Club) -
The American Friends of Erskine recently donated $62,000 to Scotland’s Erskine Care Homes for the purchase of a new bus. Much of the funds raised came through the Scottish Gathering and Games. (Photo courtesy of American Friends of Erskine) -
The American Friends of Erskine and a representative from large donor St. Andrews Society of San Francisco at the First Republic Bank in downtown Pleasanton, holding a ceremonial check representing the $62,000 raised to purchase a new bus for Erskine Care Homes in Scotland. From left: David Campbell, David Scott, Alan Purves, Floyd Busby, Ricky Diefenderfer. (Photo by Erika Alvero)
