23rd Annual Sarasota Highland Games

Russ Harper Sarasota Highland Games 2017
Russ Harper, Clan Wallace President with 2nd Place Award at the 2017 Sarasota Highland Games

The Sarasota Highland Games (FL) was held on February 4, 2017. These games are held at Sarasota fair grounds in Sarasota, Florida. Sunshine was the weather of the day. There were twenty–two clan tents participating and Clan Wallace was among them. Russ and Marcia Harper hosted the Clan Wallace tent.

The entertainment included the Sarasota Pipes and Drum Band, The City of Dunedin Pipe Band, North American Pipe Band, MacPhearson’s Rant, Brendan Nolan and Booby Vesey and Mike Hickmont. The Games included heavy athletics, British Car show, Border Collie Demonstration Highland dancing and the Irish Dancing. The vendors at the games included, Lumpy’s Ice Cream, Celtic Exchange, Cameron British Food, The house of Douglas bakery, Scottish Banner, Scots Corner, The Celtic Store, and County Argyle.

The Parade of Tartans was held at noon. At 2pm the top three best tent awards were presented, Clan Wallace was awarded second place, Clan Cameron came in first, Clan Henderson came in third.

Thanks to all that came out and enjoyed the day with us.

Courtesy of Marcia Harper

A “Splash of Tartan” at the 2017 Edinburgh Royal Tattoo

Special Message From Our President

We just received notice that Clan Wallace has been invited to actively participate the 2017 Edinburgh Royal Tattoo, A Splash of Tartan , on Monday night August 14th 2017. Come join with other Wallace’s and march in the opening ceremony.

This is a once and a lifetime opportunity to actually be part of the Tattoo at the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade. There are only two requirements,

  1. Registration is through March 1st.
  2. participates have to wear tartan. Banners, weapons, pipers and drummers will all be welcome as are children.

What also makes this particular night special is that the BBC will be filming the event. (How often do events you participate in end up on TV?)

Our Clan Chief Andrew will not be able to attend, but has asked Falconer Wallace of Candacraig to stand in for him.

The Wallace Pipes and Drums of Malta will also be participating in the Tattoo, so there will be lots of Wallace Tartan in the event.

Ordering tickets will be through a special website with a password that identifies you as a member of Clan Wallace. Send me an email to obtain the link and password. We are doing this at the request of the Tattoo management to keep the code from getting in the hands of scalpers. We will also use this method to keep a list of all those attending so we know who to contact with more details as they become available.

Checkout the official Tattoo Website for more information about the Tattoo itself.

The Standing Council of Chief’s website has the latest list of Clans and Dates that other Clans will be participating.

I know this is late, but we received the official confirmation on January 24th. If you are interested but don’t have time to finalize a trip. Get your Tattoo tickets now and plan other stops in Scotland after March 1st.

If you don’t have a travel agent, or are intimidated by making reservations on the web, One of our members Lois Wallace, has a travel agency specializing in Celtic travel and tours. Call her at 775-567-0148 or email her

Marcia and I are seriously looking at going, so please come join us.