All photos ©2025 Kat Valdez unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

by Kat Valdez

Men in kilts were the main draw. But there’s so much more to the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival in Estes Park.

With enthusiasm (and a yawn or two), Lore, Macy, Delilah, and I met in Loveland at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6 and drove up Big Thompson Canyon.

Macy was the only one who had attended the festival before, so we were mostly newbies when it came to witnessing feats of strength, listening to pipe & drum bands, eating giant turkey legs and Scottish eggs, and watching jousting tournaments.

We had discussed in a group text which events we wanted to see: “men and women throwing heavy shit around” was at the top of the list, so we arrived at 8:15 am, grabbed cups of hot tea from the charming Life of a Bloomberry cafe, and walked to the field. (Delilah and I later returned to the cafe for a lunch of bangers and mash: delicious.)

We sat on bleachers directly in front of the sheaf toss, in which the athletes use a pitch fork to spear a square-ish ball of straw wrapped in burlap and swing it up and over a bar 20 feet or more high.

To our left was the weight-for-height event, in which athletes throw an iron weight up and over a bar.

I worried the athletes wouldn’t step out of the way quickly enough and end up getting bonked on the head.

(The announcer did mention during the welcome that someone was killed during the hammer throw a few years ago, and strongly encouraged athletes to “keep your head on a swivel” to avoid injuring bystanders or getting injured themselves. Yikes. Someone pushing a stroller along the nearby lake at the far end of the field didn’t hear the announcer warn several times to keep their children and themselves out of the way.)

Everyone knows it’s traditional for Scots to wear kilts sans underwear, right? On this day, athletes wore shorts under their tartans. The better to not scandalize families with children.

The crisp mountain air quickly heated up as the sun came out. I thought about how fun it was to finally attend this local tradition, on my birthday weekend no less. (And not just because the energetic Scottish tune “Tu-Bardh” was featured during the polo scene of Red, White, and Royal Blue.)

The festival, celebrating its 49th year, draws attendees from around the globe. It’s easy to see why it’s been so popular for decades.

Music tents, a marketplace, and food booths dotted the grounds, along with the opening ceremony field, and the jousting tournament arena. A field back-dropped by spectacular Rocky Mountain National Park peaks served as the location for Dogs of the British Isles demonstrations.

Pipe and drum bands roamed one side of the grounds, practicing for the competition. I thought, “This is the only place in Colorado at this moment where men in kilts are socially acceptable. (Not counting Men In Kilts Window Cleaning—and Halloween—of course.)

I bet my companions would agreed it should be a year-round thing.

The Opening Ceremony boasted an impressive parade of clans walking behind flags displaying their tartans. Cheery and majestic bagpipe music filled the air as spectators applauded from in the bleachers.

The Bag Pipe & Drum Competition provided more opportunities for enjoying the music and pageantry.

We took our time exploring vendor booths in the marketplace tent. I spotted tartans of a friend’s last name and the city name of my alma mater.

One vendor provided a QR code to Family History of Surnames to research your family surname, coat of arms, and clan histories from all nationalities

At The House of Stewart, Delilah had the foresight to buy a box of shortbread before they sold out. I tried the orange melting candy—let it melt in your mouth as you sip your favorite beverage, and it transforms the taste into something out of this world—bought a block of it, and returned later for a few individually wrapped dollops of regular and cranberry shortbread from the nearly-empty display.

Heartbox, you had me at “fuzzy blue fingerless mittens.” So many Harris Tweed purses caught my eye at another booth, but in the end I decided to subscribe only for the October Heartbox that will feature five to seven items from Scotland, including the coveted mittens.

Business owner Gemma, who wore fingerless mittens with pink faux-fur trim, helped me through the subscription registration process, provided a discount code, coached me to add a note about which mittens I wanted, and offered a free gift: the shiny silver necklaces were beautiful but the tiny, adorable stuffed animal coo stole my heart. (I mentioned my grand niece who’s turning three years old soon, but decided to keep it for myself. Lo siento, sobrina. LOL.)

One unexpected attraction was the Mile High Falcons display and demonstration. We joined the crowd gathered around the falconers and their avian companions, among them a Harris Hawk, a Red-Tailed Hawk, an Eagle Owl and others.

We also stopped by the Isle of Sky stage and caught most of Scottish musician CAL’s set. With a witty, sparkling personality, he sang traditional tunes and a few originals exploring themes of family, nostalgia, and love.

Before performing his original song, “A Single Kiss,” he asked for a volunteer to come up to the stage for a smooch.

My cell phone was in my purse, so I didn’t immediately see Lore’s text, “Get up there!!”

I responded later with a laughing emoji.

I mean, it could’ve been fun. An older gentleman, he was charismatic and seemed as spry as a Highland games athlete. On the other hand, I’m a bit of a germophobe.

There were no takers, so he quickly segued into singing.

(Maybe next year, CAL!)

About 50 people were in line for the Scottish Egg booth so Lore and I grabbed dessert instead: ice cream for her and a root beer float for me. Macy and Delilah indulged in a snack of chicken tenders to munch on during the jousting tournament.

The tournament capped our festival day. What a delight to see the knights—mostly badass women—riding their trusty steeds while throwing a javelin-like lance into a target or hitting each other’s shields during the jousting.

(It reminded me of the novel The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton, in which a teenaged girl dreams of playing a knight at a jousting-themed dinner theater.)

The show centered around a humorous skit involving the knights, swordplay, and a couple competing to see who could cut off the head of a rose held in between the other’s teeth.

With so many events and attractions, it’s difficult to chose favorites, but here goes. My Top 11 Favorite Attractions at the Highland Festival:

• 11 Kitschy Outlander merch, from mugs and t-shirts to magnets and kitchen aprons
• 10 The House of Stewart caramels and melt-in-your-mouth candies
• 9 Mile High Falcons demonstration
• 8 Mike Hanson’s DiscDogs demonstration
• 7 Herding dog demonstration
• 6 Knights (who happened to be badass women) jousting in the arena
• 5 Scottish musician CAL who sang of family, nostalgia, and love
• 4 Harris Tweed wallets, purses and backpacks
• 3 The Heartbox tartan-and-faux-fur fingerless mittens
• 2 The tiny stuffed coo I received as a free gift for subscribing to Heartbox
• 1 Men in kilts…of course. Especially those sharply dressed men, including band competition judges, who wore the full traditional clothes of kilt, vest, jacket, sporran (pouch), kilt hose, and ghille brogues (shoes)

We’ll be sure to mark our calendars for next year’s festival. And if one September weekend isn’t enough, we could consider the Colorado Highland Games later that month.

To everyone who planned and coordinated the Highland Games, “Ta”!

Kat Valdez looks forward to experiencing the international tattoo at the 2026 festival. Until then, she continues to enjoy swimming, playing tennis, and writing at the thrilling intersection of pop culture and racial equity.

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