July 10-11, 2010
Press Release 2011
Contact: Athena Caledonian Games
Sue Friese, President
Date: May 30, 2011
Event: July 9 & 10, 2011
“What’s new at Athena Caledonian Games?” we are asked? We grin and say, “We are preserving a 112-year old tradition but there are lots of events and new faces for Caledonian in 2011.” Athena Caledonian Games follows a proud tradition of the first Umatilla County Caledonian Society Picnic and Games of 1899. The annual free festival features Scottish heritage highlights with Highland dancing, bag piping and Scottish athletic competitions, sheep dog trials and demonstrations, bag pipe bands, clan tents, a parade, food and friends. New events for 2011:
SAAA---Alan Wernsing of Athena has chaired the Caledonian Games Scottish athletic events for over 30 years. He also travels to Highland Games in the Pacific Northwest as a competitor. In 2011 Caledonian, Alan is establishing an alliance with a sanctioning organization, the Scottish-American Athletic Association whose sanction can provide increased participation, and an assurance of consistent measurements and weight specifications of athletic equipment at the Scottish Athletic Events Competition at Athena Caledonian Games. Events include weight toss for distance and height, sheaf toss, Scottish hammer throw and the most popular, the caber toss. Classifications of entries are Open, Women and Masters (40 years and older.)
Eugene Highlander Pipe Band shares the history and music of Scotland and their love of music-making by attending the Athena Caledonian Games for the first time. The Athena Caledonian Games invites the band to participate in all the activities at the two day festival. The Highlanders expect to march in the 9 AM parade down Main Street of Athena, perhaps compete in the Piping Competition at 10 AM, march in the park in the afternoon and be introduced to the Caledonian audience in the evening Tattoo, an outdoor concert, at 6:30 PM on Saturday, July9. The band was formed in 1953 “making us one of the longest running pipe bands in North America.” The Eugene Highlanders will be one of four pipe bands to be featured at the Caledonian Tattoo (a military review). Bands performing will be the Desert Thistle Pipe Band from Tri-Cities, WA., Boise Highlanders from Idaho, and Weston-McEwen’s high school pipe band. This colorful outdoor concert brings together Scottish tradition at its highest, the flair of the plaid and the skirl of the pipes.
Karen Mohney of Waitsburg, WA will be introduced to Athena Caledonian sheep dog enthusiasts. She will lead the Sheep Dog Trials and Demonstration for her first Athena experience. Karen steps in after Donna Grimes, who organized the sheep dog trials for nearly 30 years. Karen has competed here with her own sheep dogs in prior years. Karen brings expertise and knowledge to the Athena trials. She has organized many trials--Heppner’s St Patrick’s Day celebration being one most recent. She is well-known in the Sheep Dog competitive world with judging, assisting, announcing and being an impressive presence at many sheep dog trials in the Pacific Northwest. Karen promises many fun events that will be new to Caledonian Games in addition to a traditional sheep dog trial. Karen plans to bring some sheep into the Caledonian parade with the assistance of the ever-present and ever-watchful sheep dogs. That will certainly be a first!
Athena Caledonian Games Association is creating a kiosk-like display for City Park showing history and information. The new display, showing some of Caledonian history, is made possible by a grant from the AWERE Group foundation of Athena. In historical preservation efforts, books showing Caledonian’s past programs and people who have made Caledonian Games a reality are being prepared to be on display. A grant from the Umatilla County Historical Coalition has provided funds to create books that show our history. “I am proud to be part of the Caledonian Games Association…….it makes my commitment stronger to see the people who developed the Caledonian Games over the years” says Sue Friese, President.
Annual lapel pin and tee shirt sales help support the Games. The 2011 lapel pin was designed by Amy Rogers of Tumbleweed Creations in Athena and it depicts 3 spirals that are found in ancient art and signified the eternal cycle of life. Caledonian thinks that the pin brings Athena to the center between heaven and earth and we think there is no other place like Athena and the Caledonian Games…….July 9 & 10.
A mix of the old and the new is still found in Athena Caledonian Games. New events or new experiences added to the Scottish traditions bring a fun time still with the traditional flair of the plaid and skirl of the pipes. Athena is half-way between Pendleton and Walla Walla on Highway 11. Check the schedule at www.athenacaledoniangames.org and “Come early and stay late” is a code for Athena Caledonian Games, July 9 & 10 because “It’s Scot to Be Athena!”
