The 159th annual Victoria Highland Games and Celtic Festival couldn’t have asked for a nicer weekend to make its return to full capacity at Topaz Park after COVID restrictions forced a scaled-down version of the event the past two years.

Photo credit: VictoriaNowThousands gathered at Topaz Park to take part in the two day Highland Games and Celtic Festival this past weekend.Spectators were able to sit back and enjoy a multitude of different attractions that made their returns to the event this year, including the ever-popular heavy events contests, traditional dancing competitions and music featuring some of the best pipe bands in the world, among many other sights.

Jim Maxwell, President of the Highland Games Association, was delighted with the turnout and enthusiasm at this year’s festival following two uncertain years under COVID restrictions:

“It’s been wonderful,” said Maxwell. “We have been blessed with great weather and we have had a great turnout of spectators and the lineup is world class…We have been able to hold the Highland Games the last couple of years, but one was live streamed and the other had a very small amount of people, so it’s really good to see everyone back, it makes us and the volunteers feel like it’s worth the effort.”

While the on its face the festival is a celebration of Scottish and Celtic culture, it serves as a much more broad and diverse gathering with something to offer people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures:

“It’s not just for the Scottish and Celtic,” said Maxwell. “It’s more than that, it's for people who like music, sports, dance, culture and heritage…People will tell me they come to see one thing, but end up staying and seeing everything and they’re quite pleased with the variety we have as well as the quality.” 

“There is a whole segment that will sit and watch heavy events all day, because we have the top men’s and women’s athletes here on both days,” added Maxwell. “Then we have the best drum majors in the world here. We have the six-time world champion and the head judge is a nine-time world champion, so the quality is spectacular.”

The Victoria Highland Games and Celtic Festival is the province's longest-running cultural festival, held nearly every year since its inception in 1864.

The event is expected to return for its 160th year next spring.