{"id":37963,"date":"2022-10-09T00:41:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-09T06:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/highland-games-and-celtic-festival-draws-more-than-1100-people-to-aztec\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:41:12","slug":"highland-games-and-celtic-festival-draws-more-than-1100-people-to-aztec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/highland-games-and-celtic-festival-draws-more-than-1100-people-to-aztec\/","title":{"rendered":"Highland Games and Celtic Festival draws more than 1,100 people to Aztec"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kimberly
Kimberly and Robert Howe
\n pose at the Aztec Highland Games and Celtic Festival Oct. 1. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Pleasant autumn weather graced the Aztec Highland Games and Celtic Festival at Riverside Park as the annual event, which began in 2011, drew more 1,100 festival goers over the Oct. 1 weekend.<\/p>\n

The festive, friendly atmosphere meant smiling people like Kimberly and Robert Howe gladly agreed to photos and conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re having a wonderful time,\u201d said Kimberly Howe, from the Scottish Campbell clan. \u201cThere are actually people from Ireland and Scotland that are participating. It makes it more authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Animated about the current rendition of the Highland Games, Robert Howe of Welsh-Anderson bloodlines, said, \u201cI\u2019m really, really pleased to see that it\u2019s growing year by year. One guy from Finland came.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zachary Nelson and Esteban Munoz represented a younger crowd. The \u201cenergy, music and vendors\u201d were their highlights.<\/p>\n

J.R. Sykes, former owner of the Aztec Talon newspaper, took the occasion to kilt up and cut loose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the music and just the community coming together and having fun,\u201d said his wife, Portia . J.R.\u2019s favorite event is the hammer throw. \u201cHe was in the \u2018bonny knees\u2019 competition,\u201d Portia joked.<\/p>\n

Aztec Police Department officers Jacob Harris and Josh Harris posed with Adam Buchanan of Clan Buchanan, who said his favorite aspect of the Highland Games was \u201cmy culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca
Rebecca and Robert Boyer
\n pose at the Aztec Highland Games and Celtic Festival Oct. 1. Robert Boyer displayed a Damascus steel dagger. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Linda
Linda Willard-Brown and Peter McKenna
\n, an 11-year attendee of The Games. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Scott
Scott Michlin
\n, general manager of KSJE 90.9-FM, San Juan College\u2019s public radio station, served as master of ceremonies for his eighth year. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A raucous but tight and professional Denver-based band, Angus Mohr, cranked up a Celtic-flavored version of Bob Marley\u2019s Get Up Stand Up, for a crowd pleaser. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Portia
Portia and J.R. Sykes, former owner of the Aztec Talon newspaper, took the occasion to kilt up and cut loose.
\n(David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Aztec
Aztec Police Department officers Jacob Harris and Josh Harris pose with Adam Buchanan at the Aztec Highland Games and Celtic Festival on Oct. 1. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A raucous but tight and professional Denver-based band, Angus Mohr, cranked up a Celtic-flavored version of Bob Marley\u2019s Get Up Stand Up<\/em>, for a crowd pleaser.<\/p>\n

Vendor organizer Cynthia Singleton said some of the 47 vendors liked the small size of the festival.<\/p>\n

We have some vendors that have been wowed by this, that have come from pretty far away and they\u2019re used to really big events, and this smaller one, \u2018This is so much fun,\u2019\u201d Singleton said.<\/p>\n

Rebecca and Robert Boyer of Albuquerque staffed a booth representing their clan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe promote Scottish culture and offer membership in the Scottish Society of New Mexico for Clan Anderson International,\u201d Robert Boyer said. \u201cAnd we also have books so people can research where their clan is \u2026 and we have some weapons that people might want to look at,\u201d Rebecca added.<\/p>\n

Mighty swords and impressive daggers, such as the Damascus steel model that Robert Boyer wielded were on display.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s actually the only one I have that\u2019s not a replica,\u201d Robert Boyer said.<\/p>\n

Peter McKenna, commissioner for Clan McKensie, gave schoolteacher Linda Willard-Brown a history of her Scottish roots.<\/p>\n

McKenna, an 11-year attendee of The Games, said, \u201cThere is different highlights every year. Some of the bands have been really incredible. I really enjoy watching The Games \u2013 they\u2019ve had some records set here \u2013 and I enjoy interacting with people who come through the clan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClan\u201d derives from the Gaelic \u201cClann,\u201d meaning \u201cchildren\u201d or \u201cstock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Michlin, general manager of KSJE 90.9-FM, San Juan College\u2019s public radio station, served as master of ceremonies for his eighth year. \u201cI know it brings people in \u2026 it\u2019s a great thing for the City of Aztec, the venue is great here at Riverside Park, there\u2019s a lot of room for people to spread out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Susan and John Bintz offered their pottery \u2013 displaying their 15 years of experience \u2013 from their booth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really hospitable event \u2013 and it\u2019s very interactive, plus I get a chance to watch my history on my mother\u2019s side \u2013 she\u2019s Irish,\u201d John Bintz said.<\/p>\n

Grand Junction vendor Sharon Taylor of Taylor\u2019s Croft<\/a> was selling \u201call authentic Scottish stuff,\u201d she said in a rich Scottish accent. Taylor, a Grand Junction retailer since 2003, said her goods are from Glasgow, and that she helps the artisans and businesses back home by buying directly from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a destination shop, so people come from all over,\u201d \u201cTaylor said.<\/p>\n

According to Jessica Polatty, 863 festivalgoers attended Saturday and 251 on Sunday. Twenty-three dancers performed, and 45 athletes competed.<\/p>\n

Go to scotdanceusa.com<\/a> to see dance winners and to nasgaweb.com\/main.asp<\/a> to find the winning athletes for The Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Band, vendors and competitions highlight weekend<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,138,443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-new-mexico","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83859,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37963\/revisions\/83859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37963"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}