NAMPA, Idaho — There's football, basketball, and baseball — and then there are the highland games.
The Nampa Celt Fest & Highland Games took place on Saturday, June 11 at West Park in Nampa. The annual community festival and athletic event, hosted by a volunteer group of the same name, that celebrates Celtic heritage and culture.
"So this is a cultural event to show you everything that is Scottish," said Carole Klungle, the finance director of the Nampa Celt Fest & Highland Games. "It has heavy events, traditional Scottish music and dancing, lots of vendors and some wonderful food to share."
The Treasure Valley has seen its fair share of highland games.
"In Nampa, it's been running for about eight years. In the Boise area, they also have highland games and that has been running for 26 years."
There are always multiple events you can see at the highland games, all of which appeal to different kinds of people.
"I would definitely recommend people coming over and looking at the heavy events competition. They have multiple competitions inside one competition. It includes caber tossing, stone put, weight over bar and sheaf tossing. So there's a lot to see there."
The games show a different side of sports that doesn't matter how old, young, or even strong you are; everyone is welcome.
"We have a new group to the highland games, a belly dance group that has a fire-stick dance. You wouldn't have seen it at the highland games in Nampa and I think people would really enjoy seeing that."
Because of the variety of games and how it appeals to different people, the highland games aren't going away any time soon.
"We've always had a wonderful turnout, both here in Nampa, in Caldwell and in Boise; I think it will be a tradition that will move forward. People love to see culture from every country and sometimes we see Ireland, Wales, Daughters of the British Empire and Scotland all together at the highland games. I think there is a great future just because people are so curious about other nations."
