Las Vegas Highland Games 2026

[OC Richard]

The shopping tents mostly suggested that there were no Red-Faire events on the same weekend...

Right, the Vegas Ren Faire was the previous weekend, at that same venue.

Actually that touches on a major change that's occurred with our local Highland Games over the years.

In the mid-1970s when I first started attending Highland Games they were all organised by local Scottish Societies and were purely Scottish in nature, being called Scottish Highland Games.

Later Ren Faire people started participating, which was a bit of a head-scratcher to me, Highland Games being purely modern events. (There is a curious thing in many American minds that anything to do with Highland culture is of necessity rooted in the 18th century.)

Also over the years more and more Scottish Highland Games changed their names to "Celtic Festivals" or "Scottish & Irish Festivals".

Here in Southern California we used to have a massive Irish Fair which catered specifically to the Irish-American populace. It could be that the adding of "Irish" onto the titles of Scottish Games increased as the Irish Fair began fading.

[User]

My local Ren Faire has become a popular spot for people to role play animals. They wear collars, bark, and walk on all fours while their "owners" hold their leashes and call them "good boy/girl". Is this a widespread phenomena, or has my local Ren Faire just piqued the interest of these groups? I've never witnessed such behavior at Highland Games/Celtic Festivals.

[SF Jeff]

My local Ren Faire has become a popular spot for people to role play animals. They wear collars, bark, and walk on all fours while their "owners" hold their leashes and call them "good boy/girl". Is this a widespread phenomena, or has my local Ren Faire just piqued the interest of these groups? I've never witnessed such behavior at Highland Games/Celtic Festivals.

Sounds like the Folsom Street fair. But seriously... there's so much crossover these days that it's just a matter of time before they're all essentially the same.

[Jock Scot]

My local Ren Faire has become a popular spot for people to role play animals. They wear collars, bark, and walk on all fours while their "owners" hold their leashes and call them "good boy/girl". Is this a widespread phenomena, or has my local Ren Faire just piqued the interest of these groups? I've never witnessed such behavior at Highland Games/Celtic Festivals.

Crumbs! I am pretty sure that we don't have people who "role play animals"in the way that you describe----- in public anyway! Or, Ren Faires, over here. Thank goodness!

[OC Richard]

I am pretty sure that we don't have people who "role play animals" in the way that you describe----- in public anyway!

I checked, sorry to say that indeed Scotland does: https://furrycons.com/event/27811/scotiacon-2027

And there's at least one Renaissance Faire in Britain: https://www.renaissancefaireuk.co.uk/

And while not "Renaissance Faires" in name there are events around Britain that feature knights jousting and fighting on foot, often held at castles.

Unfortunately we in the US don't have period castles to host our events. We do have a Stonehenge. It's very nice.

[OC Richard]

My local Ren Faire has become a popular spot for people to role play animals. They wear collars, bark, and walk on all fours while their "owners" hold their leashes and call them "good boy/girl". Is this a widespread phenomena, or has my local Ren Faire just piqued the interest of these groups?

It's been several years since I've visited our local Ren Faire. I had noticed the event losing its focus, with fantasy people, pirate people, and so on, almost becoming a Cosplay event.

Worse, over the years it's become more and more commercialised, run by a for-profit company, rather than the grassroots informal thing it started out as in the 1970s.

No people on leashes though.

[Jock Scot]

I checked, sorry to say that indeed Scotland does: https://furrycons.com/event/27811/scotiacon-2027

And there's at least one Renaissance Faire in Britain: https://www.renaissancefaireuk.co.uk/

And while not "Renaissance Faires" in name there are events around Britain that feature knights jousting and fighting on foot, often held at castles.

Unfortunately we in the US don't have period castles to host our events. We do have a Stonehenge. It's very nice.

"
No, no! That really won't do! "Yours" is intact! We on the other hand, spent centuries customising ours!