Heavyweights, heritage, herding wow the crowd at Highlanders Festival

“Those are some big boys,” a passerby said as she walked past a group of athletes as one twisted, spun – so did his kilt – and chucked a 45-pound rock through the sunny Radford skies.

Each tossed rock landed with a heavy thud on Moffett Lawn, a sound followed by cheers from the crowd who stood or sat in bleachers and chairs around the fenced-in square containing the Scottish heavyweight games on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the annual Radford Highlanders Festival.

The games are a staple of the festival, now in its 28th year. 

“That was a monster put,” games’ athletics director Chad Clark said as one of the rocks tumbled across the lawn, kicking up chunks of dirt behind it.

At the same time, a group of women athletes gripped pitchforks to sling a heavy sack high into the air in hopes of it sailing across a bar. Elsewhere in the square, athletes, most of whom donned colorful kilts and tight-fitting blue Highlanders Festival T-shirts, lifted and tossed outrageously heavy stones, carried tombstones – their toes looking on nervously from below – and tossed gigantic cabers.

Athletes from far and near competed in the games. Participants arrived from Ohio, Tennessee and North Carolina, Clark said during opening introductions. Many local athletes competed as well, including Jonathan Harding from nearby Austinville, Virginia, and Radford City Police Officer Travis Coffey.

The competition “is just a lot of fun,” said Justin Snead of Roanoke, Virginia, as his girlfriend, Christy Braziel ’18, D.P.T. ’22, wrapped black tape around his hands to prevent cuts from the heavy stones Snead was about to hoist. 

Snead got into the games about a year and a half ago after delving into his heritage. “I was already a weightlifter, so I decided to give the games a try,” he said. “I met some guys, and it snowballed from there because everybody's so great and welcoming.”

What is not welcoming are the occasional injuries. But Braziel, a physical therapist, is always there to help. 

“He competes and hurts himself, and I try to help fix him,” Braziel said with a laugh. She helps other athletes, too. “I’ll tape their calluses, so they don’t bleed everywhere,” she explained before adding that the rough-and-tumble athletes are “really just a bunch of teddy bears.”

Despite the bumps, bruises and scrapes – “I’ll probably feel like I got hit by a bus … twice in the morning,” confessed Radford student Jack Woodward, who’ll tell you when it’s over, the high of the competition and camaraderie was worth the pain.

“It’s great and a lot of fun,” he said.

In addition to the games, Woodward, a sophomore history major from Radford, Virginia, loves the festival as a whole. “There’s a great sense of community, and everybody here is super cool,” he said. “There is something here for everybody.”

The Radford Highlanders Festival has grown into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region. The festival began in the mid-1990s with an approximate crowd of 3,000. Over the past 28 years, the festival has more than tripled in size. 

If you love music – and who doesn’t? – bands on the Highlanders Festival stage always provide the perfect soundtrack for the day’s festivities. The Fighting Jamesons and Geoff White entertained festivalgoers from the main stage, while Panjammers, an award-winning steel drum orchestra based in Blacksburg, Virginia, Kinnfolk, Hollace Oakes and Friends and dancer Claire Pollitt delighted gatherings at the campus Red Clocks.

A fan favorite each year is the sheepherding demonstration, in which border collies obey their herder’s whistle commands, keeping sheep and a few ducks in their place between Peters Hall and Moffett Lawn. 

“I didn’t expect to get caught in the action,” uttered a man walking past, accidentally getting caught between a dog and a couple of sheep.

A few feet away, Brian Horton of Hillsville, Virginia, walked with his wife, Christina, and their 3-year-old grandson, Aiden. The trio had already made “one trip around” the festival grounds, Brian Horton said, building an appetite for some shepherd’s pie.

Festivalgoers were treated to a multitude of food trucks, some of which served authentic Scottish fare – ummmm, haggis! – while others offered tasty classic festival food and American classics, such as pizzas, burgers and delicious funnel cakes. Vendors populated half of the lawn, selling crafts, jewelry, kilts, T-shirts and a lot more.

As happens with every Highlanders Festival, members of Scottish clans set up booths, and at noon, they were introduced while marching onto the lawn as part of a mass band performance. The concept of clans dates back to the 12th century, when extended networks of families swore loyalties to a particular chief. 

“I love to share our heritage, the Scots heritage, and you don’t have to be our clan to just connect,” said Carol Mackay Mertz of Fort Valley, Virginia. “I’ve seen grown men cry when they’ve made that connection to their heritage. Because maybe their grandparent, when they came to the U.S., didn’t want to be Scottish or Irish because it was so hard. They were outsiders.”

Mackay Mertz was visiting the festival and Radford University for the first time, she said, as she sat with Dougal, her 6-year-old goldendoodle. The campus made an impression on Mackay Mertz and her 17-year-old granddaughter, who lives in Florida. 

“She was like, ‘Wow, I haven’t been on a tour at any place like this,” Mackay Mertz said, recalling her granddaughter’s excitement. “It’s really cool!’”

Aaron Sylvester of Roanoke, Virginia, one of those “big boys” the passerby was referring to, felt the same about campus and the festival, he said, as he prepared to set a few heavy stones soaring through the air during the early stages of the heavyweight games.

“This is such a great festival,” he said. “It’s easy to see why people love it here.”