The MacLoose's Saturday Morning

Got Haggis?That was just one of the clever t-shirts we saw last Saturday at the Utah Scottish Festival & Highland Games. This event occurs but once a year at Thanksgiving Point and for some reason my daughters are in love with the Scottish culture so they have always attended with some of their Scot-crazed friends. This year Brittany gave us some passes so the Master and I decided to go see what all of the fuss was about. We soon found out, there is plenty of fun to be had!
To begin with, the clans all gather.

 

There is the sound of bagpipes everywhere,

 women in kilts, kids in kilts, babies in kilts, and men in kilts!

 These two men obviously did not take P.E. from Miss Jean Spray at Kino Jr. High School in Mesa, AZ. She taught us ladies how to bend over in a skirt!

 (I have it on good authority that one can get her eyes burned looking a men in wind blown kilts!)

The first item of business was attending the Wicked Tinkers concert

under the big tent. Rachel was positively giddy! She has seen them every year since high school and in like, a Wicked Tinkers manic fan!

That one in the middle? That's C.J., one of the drummers. After watching him for just a few minutes I could tell why all of the girls love this group so, so much. Ahem...sleeveless t-shirt showing off hunky arms. Cute faux-hawk, tight-waisted kilt.

Here they are beating out a rollicking tune on ancient drums and bagpipes. See that tall thing on the left that looks like a branch? That's a didgeridoo. The bass, tribal rumbling that came out of the thing was amazing! Poor C.J. got a bit dizzy afterward. Our altitude gets him every time, he said.

It was so much fun! There was lots of clapping in time and folks in the crowd spontaneously dancing a Highland Fling or two!

This one's for Aubrey, Sarah S., & Rachel!

Heard later in Vendor Alley:

"Mom, this is a real Master Sword. Mom, this is the sword Legolas uses in the Fellowship of the Ring. Ooo! I want one of these! William Wallace had one like this."  Where did this girl of mine come from? Funny thing is, The Master knew them all too!

It is a well known fact that the Master has a humongous head. There wasn't a Tam that fit him! He was able to wear his Scotland shirt that Sarah brought back to him after her visit there.

I am not sure how P.E.T.A. and the Scots would mix...just sayin'. Mr. fox had a happy life in the Highlands until one day....

There was also a booth where the little guys could put on their armor and try to slay the giant! It was so fun to watch these kids take it so seriously!

 

I think a big part of being Scottish is trying to be scary!

Hey! Who copied my husbands tosro here?!

They are also pretty funny! We saw a lot of "Certified Kilt Inspector" shirts too!

There was a booth where you could look up any surname and find the official Coat of Arms.

This is one of several I have seen in my life for my maiden name of Ellsworth.

While I am not sure that I have any Scottish blood in me (purely Norman and English), the Loose's have some Perkins in their blood AND they are related to Long Shanks who I think was the bad guy in the movie Braveheart. Yikes! 

That makes it official. We can attend the festival next year in kilts!