The Crieff Highland Gathering was founded in 1870 at

Crieff Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It has been a regular fixture in August every year except during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and between 1939-1949. The Highland games on the weekend of 15th and 16 August 2020 were cancelled due to the worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The games feature a large array of Highland Activities, including

Highland dancing Highland dance or Highland dancing () is a style of competitive dancing developed in the Scottish Highlands in the 19th and 20th centuries, in the context of competitions at public events such as the Highland games. It was created from the G ...

and heavyweight events. At first the games were held in Academy Park (within the grounds of Morrisons Academy School) but in 1880 moved to the Market Park where they have been ever since. The highland games is run by Crieff Highland Gathering Ltd. The event is twinned with the Ohio Scottish Games in the United States of America, following visits to each other's events and an agreement being signed in 2008.

List of Chieftains since 2000

The Chieftain of the games is the guest of honour and originates from the chieftains of the Highland clans. 2000 John Stark, Madderty (former golf professional, Crieff Golf Club)
2001

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and ...

(Actor, former resident of Crieff)
2002 Elaine C Smith (Scottish actress)
2003 Bill Anderson MBE (former World Heavyweight event champion)
2004 Benny Higgins (former chief executive of Bank of Scotland and Tesco)
2005

Kenny Logan Kenneth McKerrow Logan (born 3 April 1972) is a Scottish retired rugby union player who played wing (rugby union), wing for Stirling County RFC and Glasgow District (rugby union), Glasgow District at amateur level; Glasgow Warriors, Wasps RF ...

(Scottish international rugby player)
2006

Denis Lawson Denis Stamper Lawson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Wedge Antilles in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy (1977–1983) and as John Jarndyce in the television miniseries ''Bleak House'' (2005), the l ...

(actor)
2007 Donald Comrie (former head of 5th Perthshire Crieff Scouts)
2008 John Beattie (Scottish international rugby player and BBC Scotland radio host)

References

{{Scotland-sport-stub Sport in Perth and Kinross Highland games in Scotland Crieff