This week we trace the seven-year course of highland games in Sault Ste. Marie
The skirl of the bagpipes, a 16-foot caber flying through the air, the colourful swing of dancers’ kilts. All of it was on display on July 16, 1955, when Sault Ste. Marie held their first-ever Highland Games and celebrated Scottish music, dancing, and athletics.
In the Soo Locks Centennial Program, the games were listed as part of “All Nations Week,” along with other exciting events, including an “Old Fashioned Costume Promenade,” fireworks, circuses, trapshooting, and a “Helicopter Rescue on River opposite Brady Park” on the American side. Despite some rain, the games were a resounding success, with thousands of spectators taking in the display.
As it turned out, a local fireman, Al Maki won two events, caber toss and hammer throw. A common misconception about the caber toss echoed in newspaper articles about the games, is that the goal is to throw the caber the longest distance. In fact, distance does not matter, and the angle with which the pole lands is the important part: it must turn end over end and land as close to the 12 o’clock position as possible. Maki’s strength and balance served him well and led him to victory.
In 1957, additional competitions were added for square dance, country dancing, fiddling, and even photography, where entrants could submit their favourite photos taken over the course of the games for a chance to win a prize. 6,000 spectators showed up to view just the mass pipe band performances. That year, the Sault Daily Star proclaimed that there were “signs that the Sault and District Highland Games fast becoming the Braemar gathering of Canada,” citing the numerous attendees and competitors from far and wide. This was high praise: Braemar, arguably the most famous of the Highland Games, is held in Scotland every year to massive crowds, including British royalty.
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