Antigonish Nova Scotia – July 6th – July 11th
Wednesday was a pack up and travel day, to Antigonish, and a set up camp day as well. The campground is in the heart of Antigonish’s downtown, only a ¾ mile walk to Columbus Park, straight down Main Street, where the Highland Games are being held. This is a college town, St. Francis Xavier University is in downtown, partly on the main drag across from our campground. Antigonish is a tourist town also but not over-crowded like so many little towns are during tourist season. Antigonish has been hosting this Highland Games for 158 years continuously (as of 2023), save for a brief period during WW I and again during WW II when the games were suspended in deference to the war(s) going on.
After the camp was made, we walked the main street of Antigonish to familiarize ourselves with the town’s offerings in terms of food, shopping, etc. and included a walk to Columbus Park where the games are being held to learn the layout of the game’s activities, where the dancing and athletics would be located on games’ days, where the food vendors would be and of course the beer tent. We stopped in the Tall and Short Café for a late lunch/early dinner of artisan sandwiches and salads. We eventually made our way back to the campsite and set a fire to blazing for evening entertainment. Of course it had to start drizzling around 9pm, not enough to threaten the fire, but enough to diminish the fun of sitting around a campfire and send us to bed a little damp.
Thursday, we started the day working on the blog and getting the campsite finished for the arrival of Ian and Moira later today. There was rain in Chicago that delayed the kids flight to Toronto. Their flight to Halifax was also delayed due to mechanical issues. Needless to say by the time the kids arrived in Halifax they were already tired and still somewhat frustrated by the long day of travel – 15 hours with layovers and delays from the time they awoke about 3am Thursday until the time we picked them up in Halifax at about 6pm. We stopped enroute to Antigonish at The Spot in New Glasgow for dinner. “Oiled up” and fed, we arrived at the campsite after dark, and to the start of light
drizzle once again, precluding a fire and sitting around the fire outside. We retired, all 4 in the popup, which hadn’t happened for 12 or 13 years prior to tonight.
Friday, we got a late start, letting Ian and Moira sleep in after their travails the day before, heading out to see some local sites. Our destination was Cape George on the northwestern most tip of peninsula that made up St. Georges Bay. We explored the area, seeing the lighthouse there, hiking a short trail at the lighthouse with spectacular views of St Georges Bay to our right (east) and the Northumberland Strait north and west of us. Venturing south down the coast of St. Georges Bay to Ballantynes Cove we stopped at the Tuna Interpretation Center there to lean more about tuna fishing in eastern Canadian waters – I know it sounds weird, but it was fascinating.
We actually came to the area before the lighthouse but couldn’t find the fish shack or the museum – they were tucked back on the wharfs, and without driving into what looked like restricted areas, it was not
possible to tell what buildings were public, like the fish shack and tuna
museum and what were warehouses and the like, so we left. On the way back from the lighthouse we decided to try the area again and succeeded in finding both places.
We were recommended to a fish & chips place near the Tuna Museum that was supposed to be the best around. It was a stone’s throw away and called Fish & Ships – it was good fish & chips, the best in the area, though there wasn’t another restaurant of any kind, including food trucks and fish shacks like this one, for about 50 km in any direction. So, the “best” claim is accurate but possibly shrouded in some controversy. They also served ice cream as so many vendors do in tourist areas and half the people who came and went while we ordered and ate were there for the ice cream, also allegedly the best around (in a 50km radius at least).
After the short road trip, we went back to Antigonish, did some grocery shopping, had dinner (pizza) from a local restaurant, Lil’ Charlie’s, which was surprisingly good, and made our way to Columbus Park for the opening ceremonies of the Highland Games.
The “house” pipe band for these games was the Dartmouth Highland Pipe Band and they played a few tunes as part of the ceremony. After the pomp and circumstances there was more piping and some dancing up on the opening ceremonies stage, but we were feeling the call of the livelier music coming from the beer tent which was just opening and made our way there to inaugurate the beer garden. Mary made friends with some Mounties who were there for the opening ceremonies. There was a lively Irish trio on stage in the beer tent playing raucous music and Mary and Moira made friends with some folks from Coldstream Cidery that were plying their wares at the beer tent – I was the first Games attendee to sample their wares and I did not find them wanting.
Moira and Mary stayed and closed down the Ceilidh getting their picture taken at the Coldstream tent.
Saturday we were up early (8am) for the parade, the start of the dancing (9am) and the athletics (10am) – sun had already been at work for a few hours and the fields were completely dry for the athletics. There is no shade anywhere near the athletics field, and very little near the dance stage but the stage itself was a saddle-shaped pavilion that provided total shade for the dancers, their support
people and the pipers playing for the dance competition. Benny and Karen met us at the game’s grounds. Ian and I brought our folding
chairs, slathered ourselves in sunscreen, brought water bottles and wore wide-brimmed hats – it was still no match for the sun. We had to retreat to the beer tent for shade and cooling off every couple of hours.
In the beer tent the “Games” were giving out free bottled water and ice
for one’s water bottle, something we’d never see in the US at a highland game.
The heavy athletes are organized into 4 groups, the Heavyweight’s (over 200#), Lightweight’s (under 200# – men and women), the Masters (over 40 years old) and the amateurs (mostly lightweight athletes). On Saturday it was the Heavyweights and Lightweight’s performing, on Sunday it would be the Masters and amateurs. There are 9 events that
were being judged, The heavy hammer for distance (22# men/ 16# women and amateurs), the light hammer for distance (16# all), the heavy weight for distance (56# men/42# women), the open stone (like shotput/28# men), the heavy weight for height (42# men/28# women), the light weight for distance (28# women and amateurs), light weight for height (28# women and amateurs), the sheaf toss (20# men/14# women) and the caber toss (22’x90# men/20’x80# women and amateurs). The day started with the heavy weight athletics with the Heavyweight athletes performing first, followed by the lightweights – the Master’s and amateurs would perform on Sunday only.
Ian and Moira had been at the Chicago Highland Games the
weekend before coming to Halifax, and they recognized a few of the female athletes from the Chicago games performing here at the Antigonish games. The 3 athletes, Elissa, Katie and Emily
(Emily is from Chicago!) remembered them and all 3 had their own cheering section from the US. All 3 were superb athletes,
Elissa and Emily being among the top performers in their category, and Emily being 1 of 2 female athletes to turn the caber to a near-perfect score – none of the men scored as well and only 3 out of 8 of the men actually turned the caber whereas 4 out of 6 women turned the caber. Victoria was the reigning Canadian champion female athlete, and she was the only competitor, male or female, to turn the caber with a perfect score of 12:00, with Emily’s turn judged at 11:45, the women dominated the caber toss in Antigonish.
Most of the challenges are self-explanatory but the caber
toss needs some clarity. The caber is a tree trunk, usually between 19’ and 22’ long and weighing 80# to 120# and tapering slightly from top to bottom. The athlete picks up the caber by the smaller tapered end, hands cupped beneath it, the weight of the caber resting against the shoulder and balanced precariously in this manner, the athlete begins to run, gaining momentum while keeping the caber balanced. When they have good speed, the caber will start to lean in the direction the athlete is running, moving away from its resting position.
At the right moment, which only the athlete can tell is achieved, the
athlete stops and heaves as mightily as possible the end cupped in hand upward, the momentum of the run and the caber leaning ahead of the athlete propels the caber in a flipping motion, the head of the caber coming to earth and the force of the athlete’s throw sending the end being held towards the sky. If done right, the caber with flip over
180-degrees and fall to the earth in front of the athlete to be scored.
The caber is not judged on distance but on its relation to a clockface from the athlete’s point of view. A perfect score is 12:00, meaning the caber is lying directly in front of the athlete, at the 12:00 perspective. Caber’s can be judged from a 9:00 to a 3:00 arc on the clockface, as long as it makes the flip, actually turning over from the toss. If a caber fails to turn over, it is instead judged by the degree of the angle the athlete achieved towards 90-degrees. Flipping the caber and
scoring a perfect 12:00 is the ultimate goal of the caber toss.
Ian, me, and Benny spent the whole day watching the heavy
athletics, with the occasional break to the beer tent between events for shade and water – it was too hot, the sun too desiccating for alcohol, hard as that is to believe. Ian eventually gave up as
he was getting roasted and went back to camp to cool off for a while, coming back in a few hours for the after-games music and spirits, the Ceilidh (Kay-lee). Karen and Moira joined the boys for the athletics when the non-premier dancers were performing, but Mary was all about the dance and didn’t miss much if any of it.
At most highland games we’ve been too in the US, there are vendors plying their trades in marketplace kind of set up, along with a plethora of food vendors selling traditional Scottish, Irish, Welsh and even
English goods, and some with American food too for the non-adventurous. The Antigonish games were disappointing in this sense, there were less than 10 vendors in the marketplace, only one was
selling ‘Gaelic’ clothing, goods, candy, etc., the others were selling jewelry, etc. like it was an every-day craft fair and not a themed event. There were only 3 food vendors, one selling “traditional NL” Chinese dishes and one “traditional NL” pizza (I kid-they weren’t Newfoundland foods after all) and the 3rd with a variety of fish & chips, clams, and related, deep-fried seafood dishes (traditional to Newfoundland rather than Scotland) and the obligatory non-Gaelic fare of hot dogs, ham/cheese-burgers, and that sort of ‘festival fare’.
We did get to see a heavyweight athlete set a personal best and an Antigonish Games record for the heavy weight for height of 16’
6”. The sheaf toss was thrown 36’ high, the leader wanted to try for 37’ and possibly more if successful at 37’ (world record is 37’ 1”) but he could not clear 37’, though he did hit the bar on the final attempt, the sheaf wouldn’t go over. The #3 sheaf toss height was Elissa with 35’ and she was beaten out by the #2 throw of 35’ 6”.
Mary and Moira spent a majority of time watching the Highland dancers, though Moira also watched quite a bit of the athletics.
The dancers were the best they’ve ever seen. There was a major
international dance event the week before in Halifax so champions from Scotland and Canada all came to compete in Antigonish. The Canadian champions and expected world champion danced. What a sight to see!
Sunday, we were smarter and brought umbrellas, having 2 golf-sized ones in the back of the Jeep – they were lifesavers! Post-games, Benny and Karen took off for their next destination while the BrowningSmith’s went back to camp for their last night camping together. Mary and Moira’s favorite part was the dancing, seeing performers from all over Canada, the Canadian Champion and the World Champion dancers perform/compete for best dancers in 8 dances and 2 challenge dances – sword & flora (Mary’s description of the dance is above for reference). Ian’s favorite thing was the shade of the beer tent or the camp, along with the athletics. Mine of course was athletics and just the pure joy of hearing bagpipes being played for a solid 10 hours a day, Saturday and Sunday.
Monday, we secured the camp as best we could as we did not plan to return until Tuesday night. We drove to Halifax, taking the scenic route along the coast, zigging and zagging in and out of every cove, along every river, and through all the road repairs and traffic delays to make it to Halifax. We decided to get a room in Halifax and park the camper for Ian and Moira’s last night. The long and winding road had spectacular views of the ocean along nearly every mile of our drive. I know I keep saying ‘spectacular’ but it is true, around every corner is the potential for the most spectacular view ever. It is exhausting processing so many wonders in a single day or single view of a particular landscape, skyscape, oceanscape, what have you, but work gladly undertaken. Once we got checked in and ventured out for dinner and to walk the 4km boardwalk along Halifax’s seafront, it. Of course, began to lightly drizzle. We explored many shops with too wide a variety of items offered to describe them here. We dined at Garrison Brewing Company on the boardwalk and went back to the room to play Mille Bournes, the exciting, French, card-based car-racing game! The girls vs. the boys, and I’m sorry to say the girls kicked the boys asses, so that was the end of that. Night fell and dreamland took us.
Tuesday, we walked to The Halifax Citadel National Historic site, a fortress that once defended the city and harbor from attack, and toured the outside exhibits as our time was limited. As luck would have it, it began drizzling on the way to the Citadel and while we were there, then the fog came up and cut visibility, even atop the hill the Citadel perches upon, to less than 100 yards. Disappointed but not defeated, we found a comic book store before returning to the hotel to dry off, get an early lunch with Ian and Moira and drop them off at the airport for their journey home. They did not escape the BS weather curse on their trip, suffering delays out of Halifax and out of Toronto, but they did get home a couple hours later than expected. Mary and I took the fast route back to Antigonish to collect the trailer and our belongings. We packed up almost everything before the rain came but we built a fire anyway, for our last night in Nova Scotia, and Antigonish for tomorrow we head to Newfoundland!
