Campbell Highland Games 2006 Report

Seven years ago, not long after I moved back to Northern California after 20 years in Southern California, I wandered into the Campbell Highland Games in Campbell, CA. I knew I was of Scottish ancestry, and knew the tales of Clan MacLeod from my father, who was an immigrant from the British Isles. However, I had not been to any event that celebrated the Scottish heritage and culture. The strains of the music of the pipes, and the colorful tartans, and the traditionally garbed lasses dressed in long skirts or kilted tartan, tugged at my heart and soul. I wandered around admiring the many Clans, but was saddened to see that Clan MacLeod was not represented. Until then I had not known of the Clan MacLeod Society outside of Britain (my father mainly spoke of the English Clan MacLeod Society, as he was from London). While I enjoyed the Campbell Highland Games very much, it was annoying to me that such a great Clan as the MacLeod’s were not represented at these games. Later that year, or the next really, I came in contact with a gentleman who had just started to take over the Pacific Region of the USA Clan Society. This gentleman’s fervor, leadership, charisma and organizational abilities where instrumental in my beginnings with the Society, in which I took on the task of becoming a regular fixture in the Northern California Scottish cultural events representing Clan MacLeod. Last June was my sixth year with the Campbell Highland Games, in which Clan MacLeod has been represented every one of those six years, not only by the Society and myself, but also by the Clan organizer for the Campbell Games, Bill McWood (who does an outstanding job for the Clans), and by Santa Clara County Supervisor, Pete McHugh. Pete has been a leader in keeping Scottish Culture a part of our county for years, with the Tartan Day Celebration in downtown San Jose, CA., and at the Campbell Highland Games, and other events. Both Bill and Pete are MacLeod’s who wear our Clan tartan proudly, and we are proud of their efforts.

This year Clan MacLeod was honored as the most distinguished Clan at the Campbell Highland Games with the “Clan of Honor for 2006”. Many local MacLeod’s marched with pride at the head of the “Clan March”, and we were given a plaque from the Campbell Highland Games and Supervisor Pete McHugh. It was a proud moment for me, and our local MacLeod’s, as we have come from a place of non-representation to a place where Clan MacLeod holds an honored place in the community here in the Bay Area of San Francisco, and the Campbell Highland Games. It is my goal to have this commitment of representation at all the many Highland Games we attend, showing proudly the banner of a “Clann Mhor”!

Hold Fast and Shine.

David “Blue” MacLeod

Pacific Regional Vice President

Clan MacLeod Society, USA