48th Annual Scottish Games held Saturday

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The rainy weather did not stop those from celebrating their Scottish heritage in southeast Georgia.

The 48th Savannah Scottish Games at Bethesda Academy kicked off Saturday morning.

“Saint Andrews Society is the founding organization for the Savannah Scottish Games, and it’s still very actively involved in it. General Oglethorpe brought the Scotts over to help defend the Southern regions of the colonies from the Spanish down in Florida, and it was the fierceness of the Scottish warriors that were able to drive the Spanish out of Georgia and back to Florida. But it’s grown by leaps and bounds in this area,” said Murray Marshall, President of Savannah Scottish Games.

We have the bagpipes, pipe bands, individual pipers and drummers, but we also have the heavy athletics that are going on. The caber toss, sheath toss, cross the weight, the distance, weight the height, things like that that are traditional Scottish athletic events. It’s importance is to preserve and perpetuate our Scottish heritage and if we don’t do something like this and educate the general public to what Scotland is all about, we won’t have it in a few years. We started in 1976, it’s been something I grew up with and I’m passionate that we’re going to continue to have our Scottish heritage promoted in this area," said Marshall.