Mid-Atlantic Scots4tots at the Virginia Scottish Games

Despite delays due to the bad weather, the Virginia Scottish Games (VSG) had a welcome addition to the festivities this year. The Mid-Atlantic Scots4tots Organization (M.A.S.T.) was in charge of the Children’s Highland Games and, working with VSG, was able to revamp the children’s games and turn it into one of the biggest successes the VSG’s has seen in recent years. M.A.S.T. President David Close said, “The main focus was to provide a fun and memorable time and to provide knowledge, at the children’s level, that the Highland Games are a celebration of Scottish culture and history. This turned out to be a much bigger success than we imagined.”

The children’s games included the Caber Toss, Bremer Stone Throw, Sheath Toss, and, for the first time, the Hammer Toss which was a real hit with the children. Hourly competitions were held with first, second and third prize ribbons awarded. The children that did not place also received a green ribbon for participating. There were no losers, just a lot of smiles. It was a very busy week-end for M.A.S.T. A total of 425 children participated throughout the week-end, including a few parents who wanted to get in on the competition with their kids. It was a fun and eventful week-end for all.

M.A.S.T. also set up a tent where children could get their face painted, “dip” into a lucky barrel for prizes, and were given T-shirts, balloon swords and shields. These activities raised a total of $325 from public donations for M.A.S.T. Additionally, volunteers working the beer tent donated their tips which totaled $440 to M.A.S.T.

Pictures supplied by SASWDC member Jesse Hamilton