The sound of Scottish pipes echoing off every mountain that surrounds the town of Canmore will no longer be heard on the Labour Day long weekend after organizers of the annual Highland Games announced this week they would no longer be able to host the event.
In a press release issued Monday (Dec. 12), the Three Sisters Scottish Festival Society announced it would dissolve as an organization and their annual event – the Canmore Highland Games – will no longer be held in the mountain town.
The board of the society voted the week before to cease operations, as the small group that organized the event found themselves unable to continue to commit the hundred of hours needed each year to host the Highland Games.
Sandy Bunch, president of the society, said the attrition of volunteers over the years has resulted in fewer and fewer numbers to help put on the Highland Games each September.
Key members of the organizing committee have slowly fallen away, said Bunch, and what used to be a group of up to 30 strong was a mere 10 people deep to organize this past year’s games.
“Losing long-serving key committee members one at a time and running the office without paid staff is wearing,” Bunch said. “Those that are left cannot continue to support the organization at the level of intensity required over the last few years.”
The annual event that celebrates the community’s Celtic heritage attracts 5,000 attendees each year, but along with volunteer burnout, it struggled financially in 2014 prior its 25th anniversary in 2015. The organizing committee raised $50,000 to get back on its feet, but the call for volunteers remained unheeded, according to Bunch.
He said it is a situation that other volunteer driven events in the community have been experiencing as well. It is not just the sheer number of events local volunteers are asked to help out with, it is an aging volunteer population as well that is no longer able to carry the load.
Don Garen, for example, founded the Highland Games and led the organization until he stepped back four years ago – at the age of 88.
“For whatever reason, younger people are not coming forward to fill those shoes,” said Bunch, who added the organizing committee felt it had to make a decision because they could no longer keep going at the pace needed.
“The meeting was very sombre. It is not something we wanted to do, but we couldn’t keep going.”
Mayor John Borrowman expressed what a lot of the community was saying after news of the event cancellation broke – disappointment.
As a key part of the annual calendar of events, the mayor said the Highland Games are a staple for all that it offers – the pipe bands, heavy sports (caber and hammer throw, etc.) and Celtic dancing.
“But, I understand the decision made by the remaining few members of the board,” he said.
