McPherson Scots Talk The Clans and Associates of the McPherson Scottish Festival & Games

Welcome everyone,

To all of you who attended the festival I want to thank you for making this years game one of the most successful so far. We hosted the World Masters Highland Games and the Masters National Strong Man competition. We also hosted 8 massed pipe bands which was a record for us. We had a record attendance at the gate and the Ceilidh had record attendance as well.

There were twenty-five registered clans this year of those four were new clans or clan representatives, Clan Gunn, Clan MaKintosh, Clan Gordon, Clan Crawford and Clan Boyd. Our faithful friends Barcley, Donald, Grant, Donnachaidh, McInnis, and MacFarlane held down the south end of the grounds standing off the raiders and enduring to the end. Well done my friends.

Clan MacLeod was the host clan with their honored guest John MacLeod “executive vice president” of clan MacLeod. Weedon Nichols and Tom MacLeod did an excellent job of hosting the clans. Sasha helped distribute gifts, a festival tea shirt, to two of the new clans, Clan Gunn and Clan Makintosh. Next year will give it to the newest and oldest clan representative or maybe the one from the furtherest away. What do you think? Let me know by replying to this blog.

Our new friends at Clan Makenzie and Clan Boyd are a great addition to our family Clan Boyd is new this year and Clan Makenzie has been here for the last to games. New clans are what keep us growing and we are glad that you have joined us and hope to see you again next year. Clan Gordon has been with us for several years, but Santa needed to retire and has sent great people as his replacement.

Clan MacLean and MacRae as well as MacCord and MacAlpine were sure and steadfast in their support. We are glad that they were able to join us at the Fire Ceremony and Clan Gathering on Friday night. There were between 125-150 people at the hog-gis roast following the ceremony.

Clan Elliot guarded the borders while Clan MacIntyre helped their father Gail recover from surgery. He still paid in advance even though he lay recovering in a hospital bed. We all wish Gail a speedy recovery.

If I understood things correctly Clan Henderson will be retiring to have their representation to be carried on by their son. I did not get a chance to wish them fairwell as we have been blessed having them join us each year. With that I bid them fairwell and wish them our blessings. Clan Farquharson joined us for the events on Friday and Saturday returning after missing last years games. Welcome Back, we are glad to see you again.

My friends at Clan Davidson as well as a couple of others let me know that there were some errors during the Noon Day Ceremony that need to be corrected. I am glad that they brought this to my attention so we can improve the experience for everyone at the festival. We try to do things right and fail sometimes, but that will not stop us from trying.

My good friends at Clan Little and the Clarks and their unwavering support has help make these games grow and prosper. I wish to thank them and Clan Barclay for their help in teaching me the ways of the Clans.

Rev. Robert Wolcott and I presented the offering from the Kirkin of the Tartan on Sunday morning to Clan Stewart as our Ambassador to the people of S.E. Kansas flood victims relief. The Stewarts have been strong supporters of the festival for many years. Thank You.

If any of you have any ideas about what we can do to improve your experience at the festival please post us a message and let us know this site is for you and is a tool for me to let everyone know about our festival.

The Chairman