Games Report – Montreal Highland Games August 6, 2017

For the first time at the Montreal highland games, the Clan MacKenzie tent stood tall and proud, until the wind came and flipped it over before it was secured!   Some serious damage was done to two of the struts but some fancy repair work by Quebec Commissioner Kenneth Mackenzie enabled the intrepid band of helpers to put the tent upright with some strong sticky tape to hold it together for the duration of the event. Even so, further strong gusts during the day caused us some concern that our damaged tent might not survive. But it did.

There were six other clans crammed into a single large tent enabling each clan to have room for a one table. Unfortunately, they were placed at the back of the tent and the Hospital Park owners and the Irish Dancing Society took up the front spaces so it was hard to see that this was intended to be the “Clan Tent”. One resourceful fellow had a large board on which he had written “Clans” with a big arrow and he stood outside so the crowds would not miss them.

Although we were situated by the field where the heavy events took place, we had little time to watch them as we were kept busy throughout the day. Even before noon, usually the quiet time at most Games, we had strong sales of merchandise, with sweater sales brisk likely due to the wind! . By the end of the day we welcomed two new members with a virtual guarantee that two more would join, including Brian MacKenzie, the President of the Montreal Games, and  Scott MacKenzie a senior official with the Montreal Games.

These Games were a big success evidenced by the large crowds. Kenneth MacKenzie was well in charge at his first big Games and being totally bilingual he was totally at home with all the visitors to our tent. We expect great things in the province of Quebec. Merci tout le monde!