Radford Highlanders Festival packs the Lawn with games, music and heritage

Thousands filled Moffett Lawn on a clear, sunny Saturday, Oct. 11, as the Radford Highlanders Festival returned for its 29th year with heavyweight athletics, nonstop music and a vibrant marketplace of Celtic craft and culture. The festival coincided with Radford’s Homecoming weekend, adding even more foot traffic to the day.

The combination of the two events brings a little extra energy to campus. “I just love coming to Homecoming – I come here almost every year – and it’s great when the festival is here, too,” said Radford University alumnus Nancy Morris Love ’75, standing on the sidewalk near Pocahontas Hall, near a gaggle of people waiting in long lines at the windows of a collection of food trucks offering everything from cotton candy to Scottish BBQ to haggis.

In one direction, there were the annual Scottish games well underway in a large, fenced-in rectangle. The games are a major draw for the festival each fall. Spectators gathered around the area to watch as larger-than-life athletes – most donning stylish kilts and the latest festival T-shirt – lift, push and toss heavy objects – rocks and hammers and such – around the field with impeccable, snarling grunt-force.

Before the games began, John Lancaster stood off to the side, when the morning air was still full of fog, wrapping baby blue tape that matched the stripes on his kilt, around his fingers for protection because “sometimes on the heavy throws, when you put some force into it, it can tear the skin right off your fingers,” he said nonchalantly. A couple of observers listened and grimaced as if they could feel the ripping themselves.

Lancaster drove 5 ½  hours from Capitol Heights, Maryland, to participate in only his sixth competition. It was his first participation in the Radford games, and he came because games organizer Jonathan Harding asked him.

“When a big name like that asks you,” Lancaster said of Harding, a Highland games professional, “you have to do it. I feel flattered he asked me to participate.”

A few feet away, Beth Smith of Warrenton, Virginia, stretched and warmed up for a long day throwing around heavy objects. Like Lancaster, this was her first time in the Radford games. However, she is a veteran competitor – this is her 12th year – who is working her way back into game shape one year after giving birth to a baby girl.

“I’ve been pushing it this year, and I’ve gained a lot of distance in a lot of my throws,” Smith said while explaining that she does most of her training in the backyard at her home.

“This was my third baby, so I’m just bouncing back again,” she said with a smile.

Smith’s husband and children were in Radford to cheer her through the morning and afternoon. “I’m really excited about this one,” she said. “The festival is so nice, and Radford has a beautiful campus.”

Above the grunts and cheers was a familiar soundtrack to the games and the festival. As Lancaster placed a 26-pound stone between his neck and shoulder, preparing to twist his body and hurl the rock several feet across the lawn, the sound of bagpipes, electric guitars and drums filled the air.

The bands are always a draw. When Jared Sparks heard that social media sensation Ally the Piper and Tartan Terrors were performing, he told his wife, “We absolutely have to go.”

This year, music lovers were treated not only to Ally the Piper and her band – think classic rock and heavy metal cover songs played on bagpipes – but to the Toronto, Canada-based Celtic group Tartan Terrors.

“We’ve seen the Tartan Terrors in theater venues in Bristol and Lynchburg in the past year and a half, and who hasn’t heard of Ally the Piper?” said Sparks, who drove from Marion, Virginia, to attend the festival with his wife, Tracy. “Awesome performances by both bands.”

Alumni settled in the Under the Kilt Tent enjoyed the music and camaraderie near the stage in the afternoon.

Throughout the day, more bands attracted music lovers to a stage erected by the campus clocks. Plus, there were pipe and drums bands, including the Radford University Highlanders Pipes and Drums, who played in various spots around Moffett Lawn through the morning and afternoon.

“Play ‘Free Bird,’” someone shouted as one of the bands practiced. “I’m going to bust out laughing if they actually do,” the passerby said to friends enjoying the entertainment.

Music, heavyweight games and food are staples at the festival, and so is shopping. On her way to the alumni tent, Love strolled by a cluster of tents with merchants selling handbags, T-shirts, jewelry, original artwork and, of course, kilts.

“I’ve already bought some stuff,” said Randall Howard in the mid-morning as the fog began to clear. Howard was walking with his wife, Michelle. The two had traveled from Wylie, Texas, to watch their daughter, Miranda, play for the Radford Highlanders volleyball team in a match later in the day. Miranda Howard is a senior scheduled to graduate in December.

“We’ve never been to the festival,” Michelle said as bagpipes played in the distance. “We’ve never been to a home [volleyball] game while this is going on, so we thought we’d check it out. It’s a great atmosphere. We love it.”

“I love this town and this campus,” Randall Howard added.

Later, sitting on the stoop of the large red Radford University sign at the entrance to Moffitt Lawn, freshman Owen Armbrister saw the festival as a “perfect way to meet new people.”

The allied health sciences major from Marion, Virginia, had already made the rounds with a friend visiting campus. He was “impressed,” he said, with the Highland cows that were fenced in between Ingles and Draper halls.

“They are really cute. I’ve never seen one before,” Armbrister said of the cows. “This is a great event. There are great places you can purchase little gifts from, and you can talk to people about their heritage while listening to the pipe and drum bands.”

Armbrister, a percussionist in high school, has been attending practices with the Radford University Highlanders Pipes and Drums.

A number of Scottish clan members attend the Highlanders Festival each October. One of those this year was William Swanson of the Gunn clan. “We’re known as the Viking clan,” he said before laying out the clan’s storied history. “We’re probably one of the oldest, dating back to the 10th or 11th century because of the Vikings.”

This year was Swanson’s fourth visit to the Radford Highlander Festival. He continues to visit because “this festival, the Highlanders Festival,” he explained, “really exemplifies what Scottish Heritage is about, especially in the Blue Ridge and Appalachians.

“The heritage of the actual Highland area is the most important thing, and Radford is the perfect venue,” he continued. “I’ve been to a lot of other festivals, but I think this one is the most intimate of all of them. It draws a large group of people who are from this area who have Scottish heritage.”

At noon, all the clans 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. With the university’s Homecoming happening the same day, many alumni participated in the parade.

“This festival is so nice,” said Sparks. “We had such a good time, and we will be back next year, no matter who’s at the venue.”