S E A S I DE S P E C I A L E D I T I O N – O c t o ber 2014
Let the games begin! Four days of fun for the whole family… Peek inside this special edition for details of… • LIVE Entertainment • Competitions of dance, fiddle, music, athletics, and Haggis Eating! • Special Events • And much more…
Ventura Seaside Highland Games October 11-12, 2014 www.seaside-games.com
Irish Arts & Entertainment
activities:
THURSDAY
• 2nd Annual Seaside Open Golf Tournament
FRIDAY
• Single Malt Whisky Tasting, -5PM, Four Points by Sheraton Ventura Harbor Resort • “A Scottish Evening”, 6:30 PM, in the Ballroom - Buffet Supper - Fashion Show - Live Entertainment - Silent Auction
SATURDAY
• Opening Ceremonies, noon • All day... - Live Celtic entertainment on 3 stages - Athletic competitions - Scottish Fiddle competitions - Clan Currie Harp Glen - Dance competitions - Harp Petting Zoo - Plentiful Celtic food - Fabulous vendors selling all sorts of merchandise
SUNDAY
• Drum Major Competition • Single Malt Whisky seminars • All day... - More live Celtic entertainment on 3 stages - More Athletic competitions - Genealogy/History - More Dance competitions - Harp Petting Zoo - More delicious Celtic food - More unique vendors and merchandise
On the Pacific Coast just 50 miles north of Los Angeles.
October 2014
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Ventura Seaside Highland Games Returns October 11th & 12th The Volunteer Crew of the Seaside Highland Games is preparing to welcome you to the Ventura County Fairgrounds for their TWELFTH straight Festival this October. The dates are October 9, 10, 11 & 12 and the planned activities will keep you moving all four of those days! The big weekend is October 11 & 12 on the Fairgrounds, of course, but leading up to that are the Second Annual Seaside Open Golf Tournament on Thursday and the Single Malt Whisky Tasting and the renown for miles around “A Scottish Evening” event on Friday! Form your foursome now and plan to tee off with the ranks at Los Olivos’s Scottish-style links course in a shotgun start that Thursday morning. A day dedicated to golfers and just golfers will allow you time to take in ALL the weekend’s happenings without being rushed. Things will be a-buzz Friday at the Four Points by Sheraton Ventura Harbor Resort where plans will be in place for the 5 PM Single Malt Scotch Tasting event and the 6:30 Scottish Evening. Some of the industry’s premier Scotch suppliers and Brand Ambassadors will be presenting a wide array of Single Malts for you to taste and savour as you mingle with friends in a casual cocktail-like setting in the room otherwise occupied by Sheraton’s Alexander’s Restaurant. The overflow crowd will then fill the Sheraton Ballroom for a fine buffet supper, live entertainment by a lead weekend entertainer and the presentation of Seaside’s Famous Scottish Fashion Show. Fashions ranging from haute couture to more accessible items from fine Vendors at the Festival and the models are your friends and loved-ones! A silent auction is a very special part of this evening where you may take home a piece to complete just the right look! And a bottle of fine Scotch will be up for grabs, too! Saturday morning before most of you will think of coming out, the bands, the dancers and the athletes will all be gearing up for a long day of their respective competitions. We try hard not to overbook but Seaside’s popularity has brought large numbers of talented competitors, hoping to go away with trophies, schol-
arships and prize money—and every year the numbers keep rising! Don’t worry, though, you will see a full array of events being arranged for your enjoyment throughout the day, both days! Saturday around noon comes the ever-popular Opening Ceremonies and Grand Parade. Come early for that to secure a seat and, if you are not in it, you will be sure to catch the heartthumping band and clan contingencies as they march by so close, you could touch them! ALL activities come to a halt the grounds over for this event and then resume to their full capacity at the conclusion. continued page 16
Friday Evening at Seaside Before buckling down to the serious Scottish Games business on the Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday, we offer a time of relaxation, fun, food and fellowship. Come to the Four Points by Sheraton in Ventura Harbor on Friday, October 10 to have a wee dram with us at the Single Malt Whisky Tasting. Five o’clock the pouring begins and doesn’t stop until the evening’s next event, the “A Scottish Evening” affair at 6:30 just across the hall in the Sheraton’s big ballroom. Starting off with a wonderful buffet supper, you will dine with friends old and new and be entertained by some of the weekend’s top performers and treated to the beauty and style of a Scottish Fashion Show!
It isn’t just all kilts
and sox anymore! See haute couture fashions and many items available from Games’ vendors on the weekend! See you there for all the fun!
Irish Arts & Entertainment
A few highlights…
October 2014
family fun
First, is that one of our wonderful Vendors inquired about the possibility of creating a Tea Room on the grounds and serving tea (and coffee too) along with their products. What are their products? WELSH CAKES of course! Joe and Denise Carbone aka The Welsh Baker have the idea that by providing a hot beverage and a place to sit plus some of their very yummy baked goods (much more than the amazing Welsh Cakes), our Games guests will enjoy the surroundings more and take a break from the non-stop action outdoors. The Welsh Bakery Tearoom will be inside beside their Vendor stall and directly across from the Celtic Spring Stage! So you will have a little music with your tea! Try it, I’m sure you will love it! Now, from the sublime to the...well, a delightfully fun competition. How about a HAGGIS EATING CONTEST?? Yes, we have decided that this is something Seaside needs in the worst (wurst?) way!! Charles Lamb, maker of fine haggis (the Original “Oatmeal Savage”) has consented to sponsor a Seaside Highland Games Haggis Eating Contest!! He has done this for years and it is about time we at Seaside got on the bandwagon (or the Offal Truck).... So, if you are the determined man or lady you think you are and....have a stomach of iron, come on out and give it a try!! There are PRIZES to be won and there are rules--of course there are rules--that will be explained to you at contest time. In the Seaside Food Court at times to be announced. You will never forget the experience! Oh, one more thing: Our friend Tooti Bevill has just contacted us to say that she will be bringing her highland cattle back to Seaside again this year!! This is exciting news for all you youngsters and a few older city slickers who have never seen cows up close and personal. But these are not just any cows--they are, in the vernacular, “HEELAND COOS”, the shaggy horned beasts found in abundance in the braes and beside the Heeland lochs in Scotland. Tooti generously shares her lovely beasts with all who happen by and even marches with them in Saturday’s Grand Parade! You don’t want to miss this!!
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Irish Arts & Entertainment
October 2014
Seaside Games continued Don’t miss the athletic competitions while you are at that end of the Fairgrounds where the Highland Heavies, the 805 Heavies, the Big Boys, will show how it’s done both at home and abroad! Hammers, weights, sheafs and cabers—ALL get tossed by men and women athletes alike! A show like no other you won’t want to miss! Clan Row encompasses so much—be sure and check the Scottish Fiddle
competitions, see and experience the Clan Currie Harp Glen and “Petting Zoo” (don’t worry, they won’t bite) and, on Sunday, be sure and check out the Drum Major Competition on the green. Ray Pearson’s Single Malt Scotch Seminars are available to you, as are the plentiful Celtic food and quality merchandise vendors in the Shopping Halls and spilling out onto the grounds. Dance of all sorts—Highland at the first stage as you enter the grounds and Scottish Country Dance in McBride Hall along with a variety of surprise performers, too! The Children’s Glen across the way is a place where the wee ones will want to spend some time. Well worth it, folks, as these fine volunteers bring all sorts of activities right down to your child’s needs and abilities.
OCT
9
11:30
2ND ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
Thanks and see you in October!
Join us for a great day at the Olivas Links Golf Course!
Oilvas Links 3750 Olivas Park Drive Ventura, CA 93001
!
FEE: $60 (SIGN UPS AND PAYMENTS DUE BY 10/1/14) PRICE INCLUDES: GREEN FEE USE OF DRIVING RANGE Send Checks to: John Origer (Treasurer) (checks payable to: Seaside Highland Games 23406 Gilmore St, West Hills, CA 91307 ! ZES joriger@gmail.com PRI PIN ! (818)398-2668 THE
TO IVE EST T DR S O CL GES LON
competitions
Grab a Games t-shirt and program either on your way in or out and you will remember your experience well until it’s time for Festival #13!
TEE TIME
!
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For more information… Contact John & Nellie at SeasideChief@aol.com or call 818-886-4968.
Irish Arts & Entertainment
October 2014
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LIVE Entertainment… The Alex Beaton Stage (Main Street Center Stage) • Browne Sisters and George Cavanaugh • Men of Worth from “up north”
Celtic Spring Stage (indoors) • Celtic Spring • Hidden Fifth • Bows & Toes
Celtic Rock Stage • 1916 • The Ploughboys
Three stages filled with the best professional Scottish/
celtic crafts
Celtic/Irish entertainers to be found will match your evter Stage, will highlight the Browne Sisters and George Cavanaugh and the very excellent Men of Worth from “up north”. The indoor Celtic Spring Stage will present, who else but Celtic Spring themselves along with Hidden Fifth and the very fine Bows & Toes. Then, way at
Haggis Eating Contest
ery mood. The Alex Beaton Stage, the Main Street Cen-
A fun-filled weekend for the whole family!
the far end of Main Street—our Clan Row—is the Celtic Rock Stage where the slightly more raucous 1916 and The Ploughboys will let loose with some fun and entertaining riffs!
children’s glen Volunteers Needed The Seaside Highland Games is a 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation and is totally run by volunteers. Come out and help us, work for a few hours and spend the rest of the day enjoying the festival. If you can help on Saturday or Sunday, October 11 and 12, just e-mail Nellie at SeasideChief@aol. com and advise of your availability!
It is always fun!
The Premier Scottish Festival on the West Coast
COMPETITIONS IN:
Athletics Dance Darts Fiddles Bagpipes & Drums Eighty Plus Clans & Societies
1Fa1irgro& 1 r 2, 20 e b u n o d y t s n • Ventu t Ventura Cou ra , C 1 4 c A O
Massed Bands & Gala Opening Ceremonies Celtic Vendors Galore Dart Competitions Sheepdog Demos Children’s Glen Thursday Golf Tourament Harp Circle Dance Demos and...
“Large Men & Lovely Ladies Throwing Stuff”
Custom Sponsor Packages Available AMTRAK Stops at Our Front Gate
Great Entertainment on Three Stages
1 9 1 6 • T h e P l o u g h b o y s • M e n o f Wo r t h T h e B r o w n e S i s t e r s & G e o rg e C a v a n a u g h C e l t i c S p r i n g • H i d d e n F i f t h • B o w s & To e s
www.seaside-games.com or call John&Nellie @ 818-886-4968 Whisky Tasting & “A Scottish Evening” Friday @ Four Points Sheraton