What’s new at the 2023 Highland Games

BY LUKE BARBER

The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games returns for its 67th rendition with several new additions to the legendary gathering of Scottish clans and culture at MacRae Meadows. Stories and tales of the joys and adventures of camping at the Games have long been a treasured part of the Highland Games experience. This year, event organizers will being paying homage to its nearby village of dedicated festival-goers by inviting them to be participants in the game’s opening ceremony for a camp parade on Thursday night.

“The camp at the Highland Games is definitely a world unto itself,” Grandfather Mountain Highland

Games President Steve Quillin said. “It’s sort of a microcosm of the Scottish Highlands as they would have been in the year 1560.

The campground breaks into various villages or community areas, and we would like to bring the campers out of the camp-

GMHG gives back to community through local scholarships

BY LILY KINCAID

LINVILLE — Grandfather Mountain Highland Games has a policy of always spending money in Avery first, then moving on to neighboring counties next and only renting items or making purchases away from the High Country if absolutely necessary, said GMHG President Steve Quillin. In the same vein, the Highland Games gives thousands of dollars in scholarships to Avery County High School graduates each year.

How much GMHG awards to students depends on the number of applicants, but the nonprofit gives up to $100,000 each year, Quillin said. In addition, the scholarships are renewable, so as long as the recipient is in good standing, they can receive the scholarship every year until they graduate college.

These scholarships can be used for university, but some students choose to use them for community college or continuing education past high school, Quillin said. The Games tends to favor students who are involved in the Highland Games, but any students who graduated from Avery County High School are able to receive scholarships.

The 2023 recipients of the GMHG scholarships are as follows:

• Levi Benjamin Andrews

• Jaime H. Bautista

• Carly Michele Benfield

• Dakota Everett Hoilman

• Joseph Kenneth Leslie Jordan

• Rachel Gray Moody

• Ethan Jay Shell

• Sierra Brooke Smith

• Rylee Tennille Walker ground and onto the track to introduce folks to the campground atmosphere. The idea is to bring the campground into the

Games and the Games into the campground.”

In addition to the added focus on the campground atmosphere, the Games will welcome new entertainment to its concerts in the groves and its Friday Night Rock Concert. Newcomers to the Games North of Argyll is a premier Celtic fusion band that blends Celtic music with contemporary influences that is sure to incite the crowd’s feet stomping.

As a 501c3 charity, the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games helps support educational excellence and the preservation of Scottish culture in the High Country and beyond. Proceeds from the Games help continue its scholarship program that benefits Avery County High School, the North America Academy of Piping and Drumming and the Scotland in the Class program, which brings educational enrichment programming to elementary school students from the second to fifth grade.

Furthermore, as a part of its commitment to educational excellence, the Games will be hosting its Scottish Cultural Village once more with an expanded focus in educational outreach in its children’s tent. Expanded programming will feature musical presentations focusing on traditional children’s Scottish folk tunes among other programs.

Other educational enrichment features medieval-aged weaponry, bagpipe craftsmanship and traditional Scottish cuisine.

Grandfather Mountain Highland Games