Wichita "Do-Da" Recap!

Wichita Highland Games and Celtic Festival was a new and expanding show in its second year. A soft-side, tents-only festival in an open public park, it offered music, food and plentiful shade.  The feel was that of a Celtic festival crossed with a fantasy faire. The festival was well-run, with lots of room for future growth among the vendors and performance stages.

The grounds at the Sedgwick County Park are beautifully flat and spacious enough to support 3-4 events at once. Two height standards removed any end-of-the-day lulls that can happen if everyone stacks up during the height events.  It also afforded the opportunity for demos of sheaf events throughout the festival, to further draw a crowd to enjoy the rest of the heavy events.

The veteran Athletic Director staff of the Glasgow and Ventress clans always puts on a first class event. This year’s rapid fire change of administration with the Wichita games was no exception. Experienced ADs and judges made for smooth days of throwing for all classes, and came with the added bonus of helpful tips and hints for those of us in need of a bit of direction.

The Pro class was brimming of world class throwers duking it out in a tight race for top honors. There was an exceptional display of skill and showmanship in the sheaf from Dan McKim, who cleared the towering height of 35’2” multiple times much to the delight of the crowd.

Hands down some of the finest food to be had on the circuit with daily lunch offerings from award winning Naught Nurses BBQ . Thoughtful and delicious, this crew remembers allergies and diet restrictions for the regional throwers and kindly preps separate dishes when needed.

Not to be outdone in the caring for the throwers department the staff provides instant feedback at days end with certificates for each thrower with their numbers for the day. A tool not to be overlooked, and certainly nice to have for bragging rights where they apply! The top three throwers in each class walked away with blades of traditional Scottish design as well.

The women’s class enjoyed gentle weather and fresh trig space on Sunday. With a class of just six throwers the day moved at a respectable clip as all nine events were slated for competition.

 A nontraditional order for events started the day with WOB and sheaf, sheaf saw some high fliers for the women's class, topping out at 25 feet. We then proceeded with traditional order for the rest of the day. This meant ending the day with caber, always a crowd pleaser. On this day the caber gods were not kind, and three previously serviceable women's cabers shattered on the unforgiving turf. Despite the oddity of the set back, a full round was managed and thus able to be scored.

As the Texas representative I managed a second place showing behind the ever gracious Felicia Simms, with Jera Kressly nipping at my heels all the way. 

Wichita, lovingly referred to by the locals as The Doo-Da Games, may be young festival, but put it on your calendar for next year folks. I cannot wait to see what Dave, Terri and Larry bring to the table to top this year.