The Kentucky Scottish Weekend was a regional Highland games event held annually at General Butler State Resort Park in Carrollton,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. The weekend's mission was to celebrate the customs and traditions of

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 was held each year on the second full weekend in May. First held in 1983, the weekend celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2012, its final year. It was the longest running highland game currently being held in Kentucky at the time it ended. It was held in Carrollton due to that location being nearly halfway between

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. A Kentucky non-profit corporation—Kentucky Scottish Weekend, Inc.—held the event. The weekend was sometimes referred to as "KSW" for short. The weekend was one of three regional Highland games in Kentucky. The others are the Glasgow Highland Games in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and the West Kentucky Highland Festival in

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American bicycle manufacturer * Murray Motor Car Company, an American car manufacturer * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trus ...

, founded in 1986 and 1998, respectively. A variety of vendors usually attended the event. Items sold included Scottish and American food items,

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

ic collectibles,

kilt A kilt ( ) is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill-woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Highland dress for men, it is first r ...

s, Scottish music,

Clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

memorabilia, and Scottish

heathers ''Heathers'' is a 1988 American teen dark comedy crime film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, K ...

Events

*Athletic competitions, including: **

Caber tossing The caber toss () is a traditional Scottish athletic event in which competitors toss a large tapered pole called a "caber" (), normally practised at the Scottish Highland Games. The term "caber" derives from the Gaelic word ''cabar'', which ...

**Hammer throw – . **Sheaf toss **Stone throw **Weight throw – 28 and . **Weight toss – . *

Bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

and drumming competitions (the event was recognized by the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association) **Several regional pipe bands regularly competed at the weekend, including Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes and Drums and the Louisville Pipe Band *Bonniest knees contest (where men competed for the "best" set of knees; judged by females and through touch alone) *

Border Collie The Border Collie is a British list of dog breeds, breed of herding dog of the collie type of medium size. It originates in the region of the Anglo-Scottish border, and descends from the traditional Sheep dog, sheepdogs once found all over the ...

demonstrations *British car show * Ceilidh on Saturday night *Clan booths *Kirking of the Tartan (non-denominational church service) on Sunday morning *Opening ceremony with massed bands *Parade of Tartans *

Pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums, used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland bagpipe, ...

concerts *

Scottish folk music Scottish folk music (also Scottish traditional music) is a Music genre, genre of folk music that uses forms that are identified as part of the Scottish musical tradition. There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in ...

concerts * Scottish highland dancing competitions and demonstrations * Wellie toss contest (where women competed to see who can throw a boot the farthest)

Entertainers

Alex Beaton Alexander William MacLeod Beaton (July 15, 1944 – May 27, 2022) was a Scottish folk singer and guitarist. He performed across the United States and in Canada, hosted tours to Scotland, and established folk singers as a regular feature at hig ...

had been the featured performer and emcee at the Kentucky Scottish Weekend since 1989. In later years, other performers included

Seven Nations Seven Nations may refer to: *Seven Nations of Canada, a historical First Nations confederacy *Seven Nations (band), a Celtic rock band ** ''Seven Nations'' (album), a 2000 album by the band *"Seven Nation Army", a 2003 song by the White Stripes *Se ...

, the Glengarry Bhoys, and

Wicked Tinkers The Wicked Tinkers are an American Celtic music group who perform at many Scottish/Irish festivals. History The group was formed in the early 1990s when piper Aaron Shaw met bass drum player Warren Casey and percussionist John MacAdams at The Ce ...

Dissolution

KSW was dissolved and the remaining funds disbursed to The Scottish Society of Louisville.

References

External links

Kentucky Scottish Weekend website

Glasgow Highland Games website

West Kentucky Highland Festival website
{{Scotland topics Highland games in the United States Festivals in Kentucky Tourist attractions in Carroll County, Kentucky Cultural festivals in the United States Scottish-American culture in Kentucky 1983 establishments in Kentucky 2012 disestablishments in Kentucky Recurring sporting events established in 1983 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2012