Radford festival celebrates its heritage with bagpipes, brawn and a bit of Scottish weather

“There’s nothing like the sound of bagpipes in the morning.”

Lelyn Johnson ’12 voiced those 10 words as he and his wife, Kate Johnson ’12, shopped through assorted vendor tents set up around Radford University’s Moffett Lawn. The couple, both dressed in red Radford hoodies – Lelyn was sporting a kilt – made a day out of making the rounds at the Radford Highlanders Festival on a cool, cloudy and sometimes rainy Saturday morning.

There’s something about the festival that brings back fond memories for the two alumni, from the sound of bagpipes marching through the quad on their way to Moffett Lawn to the vendors where kilts and shirts and jewelry were sold, from the food trucks serving a plethora of delectable selections to the Scottish music and games around the lawn. “It’s all so wonderful,” Kate Johnson said. “We love coming back and celebrating where we started.”

It was in October more than a decade ago when Kate and Lelyn began dating as Radford students. They met in the basement of Peery Hall in a University 100 course, Kate recalled with a smile. “The Highlanders Festival is one of the first things we did together. It’s kind of where our story started.”

The story of the Radford Highlanders Festival continued for its 29th year on Oct. 10 with the events and activities that have made it a popular destination for people in the region and often beyond, looking to enjoy the excitement of heavyweight athletics, nonstop music and a vibrant marketplace of Celtic craft and culture.

Spanning about a third of Moffett Lawn was a fenced area containing the annual Scottish games, where top athletes, many of them pros, competed in pushing, lifting and throwing heavy rocks and cabers and hammers and such. Most wore kilts, and some donned official medium-blue Highlander Festival T-shirts while delighting spectators with their abilities and seemingly out-of-this-world strength.

There were as many oohs and aahs Saturday from the fans as there were grunts and groans from the athletes.

“They’re so strong,” a young girl said while watching the games along the fence.

But competition success isn’t all about muscle, games judge and former competitor Travis Haddock explained. “Technique is more important than strength.”

Kristan Teague thinks about her technique each time she readies to toss a 28-pound heavyweight. “I just try to remind myself to stay low,” said the former college thrower from Casco, Michigan. She and her husband, Luke, left their four kids – ages “2, 7, 9 and about to be 11,” she said – back home with a sitter and drove nine hours on Friday so Kristan could compete in only her second event since picking up the heavy weights for the first time in years.

“I know her,” Luke cheered from the fence after one of his wife’s tosses landed her in first place. Moments later, Luke spoke about being a “proud husband.” Kristan joined him between throws and talked about her Highlander Festival experience so far.

“I love it here at Radford,” she said while mentioning her Scottish heritage – her maiden name is Cameron – and revealing her plans to compete next summer at games in Scotland. “I’m trying to get in some practice, so I don’t make a fool of myself over there,” she said, laughing, before returning to the competition field.

Throughout the day, athletes competed in games like the heavyweight throw, caber toss, stone put and sheaf toss. That latter game required athletes to use a pitchfork to hurl a heavy, stuffed burlap sack high into the air and over – if their technique was just right – a horizontal crossbar.

“Don’t overthink it, just let it rip,” said one athlete, encouraging another. “You’re crushing it.”

Jerry Lawson, a judge for the day, took it upon himself to walk around the field perimeter with a couple of the heavy weights, engaging with spectators and giving them a chance to lift and see for themselves the heft of the objects.

“Some people lift the weights and say, ‘I could probably do that,” said Lawson, of Richmond, Virginia. “You could,” he replies, “You should come out next year and try.”

A handful of students in Radford’s ROTC program experienced the heft of the cabers. Each time a caber was flipped, two of the camo-clad volunteers retrieved the wooden pole and carried it back for the next athlete.

Cabers can weigh between 90 and 120 pounds, Lawson said, depending on their length.

The weather on Saturday – it was cool, windy and rainy in the afternoon – may have seemed dreary for an ordinary day, but for many of the athletes and festival goers, it was the perfect Scottish day, they said. Some openly wished for more rain.

“We’re calling the weather authentic,” said a smiling Tricia Smith, one of the festival organizers and Radford University’s interim vice president for Student Affairs. “If we were in Scotland, this is probably what it would feel like right now.”


Accompanying the weather and the games throughout the morning and afternoon was a lineup of talented musicians, playing on the Moffett stage and on the university’s beloved Heth Clock Plaza. Each provided a perfect soundtrack to the day’s festivities. Playing this year were SYR, Kinnfolk, Cat & Banjo, Geoff the Fiddler and the Flat Caps, Johnny Cakes & the Lunch Truck and Copy Cat Syndrome.

Back this year by popular demand was a sheepherding demonstration, in which super -intelligent, high-energy border collies obeyed their herder’s whistle commands, keeping sheep and a flock of ducks in their place between Peters Hall and Moffett Lawn. On the other side of the lawn, fenced in between Draper and Ingles halls, were two Highland cattle, a mother and its 4 1/2-month-old calf. The cuddly looking duo drew lots of love and pets throughout the day. 

“She likes to be petted right between her shoulders,” said the owner to a woman reaching through the fence, unable to resist the feel of the mother’s shaggy coat.

The festival also provided a fun-filled kids area that offered youngsters crafts and bouncy houses, one designed to look like a tiger.

“There’s something here for everybody to enjoy,” said Ty Osborne, a junior geology major from Marion, Virginia. “It’s really cool that Radford hosts this festival. “It’s a fun touchstone for people from the area who have Scottish heritage.

“And it’s fun for people who have never seen something like this,” Osborne continued before dashing off toward the food trucks after getting a whiff of haggis and Scottish barbecue.

Keeping with tradition, a number of Scottish clan members visited the festival and set up information tents around the lawn. All of them were eager to talk about their heritage and what attracted them to the Radford festival.

At noon, clans were introduced as they marched onto the lawn as part of a mass band performance that included Radford University’s Highlanders Pipes and Drums, Virginia Highlands Pipes and Drums and the Appalachian Highlanders Pipes and Drums. The concept of clans dates to the 12th century, when extended networks of families swore loyalties to a particular chief. 

“The Highlanders Festival is such a cool way for Radford to blend our past with our present and to really celebrate the people who founded this area,” Smith explained. “It just feels like something really unique and special.

“It feels like home.”