Stone Mountain

[tripleblessed]

I'd hoped to attend this year's 50th but alas, it was not to be.

Sad to hear you won't make it, but I'm sure we all will enjoy seeing you next year. As always, third weekend in October.

[LoE]

If you can get there.

The last time I tried to go to Stone Mountain, I got stuck in traffic. For 4 hours. The interstate was a parking lot. I never got there. I gave up eventually.

I hope you have better luck than I did.

[OC Richard]

Our games are consistently one of the largest games in North America...

I just attended Stone Mountain once, our Pipe Band made the trip in the 1990s.

I loved those Games! They had a distinctive feel quite unlike our Western US Games, something special that even other Eastern US Games I've attended didn't have. (I've been to Loch Norman, Wellington Ohio, Alexandria Virginia, Grandfather Mountain, Fair Hill Maryland, and West Virginia Games.)

I do wonder if there are any statistics (pre-Lockdown) on the relative sizes of the various US Games.

What makes it difficult is that there are various ways of counting attendance. Recently I attended three days of an event; I purchased a two-day ticket well in advance, but a week prior to the event I purchased a single ticket for a third day.

If attendance was reckoned by Unique Attendees I counted as one person.

If attendance was reckoned by number of tickets sold I counted as two persons.

If attendance was reckoned by turnstile clicks I counted as three persons.

So you have to take the announced attendance of events with a grain of salt, and if comparing attendance of various events do the maths and try to get same-system numbers for all.

Actually I'm a Pipe Band person and all I care about is how many bands will be attending a Games. Happily this is easy to find out by looking at past contests with the local Pipe Band Association.

[OC Richard]

Update from Stone Mountain, a local US Southwest band, Mesa Caledonia (from Arizona) has won MSR, Medley, and band of the Games.

Here's their Drum Major Kevin Conquest (a United States Coast Guard officer who marched in the Edinburgh Tattoo this August) holding their various awards.

I love their tartan, a bespoke weave of Bruce of Kinnaird.

[tripleblessed]

I always stop by MacLaine of Lochbuie to check on a member who was a long time convenor for them. He was always at our evening before the games gathering at the Celtic Tavern, but after losing his wife, he participated on the forum less and ceased attending. Talking with a couple of long time Fraser friends, I turned saying I needed to go and was amazed to see Chainsaw02 coming up the hill. Great to see Larry, great visit, met a daughter. He'll hopefully
be back next year. At 80 and 75, we are both hopeful to be present next year.

Also, we filled all 6,000 or so parking spaces in the park and ran overflow into meadows that don't usually see cars. As people left, empty spaces re-filled,
so we stayed pretty full all day. Attendance has not been announced yet, but very encouraging.

[MurrayInGA]

MurrayInGA, Tripleblessed, and Wareyin in the flesh






Parade of tartans/Massed bands with remarks from the guest of honor, The Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, Donald MacLaren of MacLaren and Achleskine, 25th chief of the Clan Labhran

[MurrayInGA]

Attire for the weekend

[Chainsaw02]

Really enjoyed our conversation on Saturday.

[ThistleDown]

I've attended many US Games over the past fifty years. Stone Mountain stands out above all others -- and I was there only once! Decidedly different from Games in Scotland, but I remember it for its welcoming hospitality and, strange as that may seem given the difference, a feeling of comfortable familiarity.

[tripleblessed]

To anyone who showed up Sunday to the Tartan Museum tent hoping for an XMarks photo, my apologies. Being on the grounds committee sometimes means you get grabbed to handle a situation even when you aren't on duty, and I didn't get done in time to get there. I did run into @Wil later, and we discussed possibilities for rebooting our Burns get together, on hold the last couple of years.

A good games. I got to meet @MurrayInGA, see @Wareyin and @Wil, and reconnect with @Chainsaw02 . Missed @ rebelrouser, @kiltedsawyer, and @JPS.