Kingsville Highland Games finds a permanent home

The Mission of the Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village (CTMHV) is “To preserve the past of Canada’s South for the education and interpretation of present and future generations”. And what could be more representative of Canada South’s history than a celebration of its Scottish and Celtic Heritage. Les McDonald, Chairman of the Board of Directors at CTMHV, is proud to announce that they will be adding the Kingsville Highland Games to the many events that they host on the Arner Townline. According to Heather Colautti, registrar of the Windsor Community Museum, “Scots have been coming to Windsor and Essex County, in large and in smaller numbers, since the days of the North American fur trade in the late 1600s and 1700s, right through to today and …. are one of the ethnic communities with the longest historic ties to Southwestern Ontario”. Reflecting the history of the county, Kingsville had hosted Highland Games for nearly 20 years until they disappeared in 1987.

A permanent home for this great event

The Highland Games, now to be known as the Kingsville-Essex Highland Games, returned in 2019 and more than 6,500 were in attendance for that occasion. The pandemic put paid to the games for a couple of years, but the committee has been working hard to bring the event back to its former numbers. In 2023 the Board at Jack Miner’s Migratory Bird Sanctuary graciously agreed to host the games at Ty Cobb Field when the Town of Kingsville decided to no longer host the event. The Committee will always be grateful for this gesture and are happy to report that more than 3,000 attendees enjoyed that location and all funds raised went to support programmes at the Sanctuary. However, the space available at Jack Miner’s proved to be too small to house the growth expected given the popularity of this event so, a new home had to be found for the future.  “The Board of Directors at the Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village have been overwhelmingly supportive of this initiative” says Doug Plumb, Chairman and Founder of the current Kingsville Highland Games, “Everyone is so enthusiastic about this addition to the portfolio of the CTMHV and we are delighted to finally have a permanent home for this great event”.

The Kingsville-Essex Highland Games will be held at the Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village on June 22nd, 2024 at 6155 Arner Townline, Kingsville. For details see: www.facebook.com/kingsvillehighlandgames.