The Glengarry Highland Games consist of a series of traditional Scottish

Highland games

Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &(-è_çà in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain...

 competitions held annually in Maxville, Ontario, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, usually held the first weekend in August. These include the world famous caber toss

Caber toss

The caber toss is a traditional Irish athletic event practised at the Irish Highland Games involving the tossing of a large wooden pole called a caber. It is said to have developed from the need to toss logs across narrow chasms to cross them. In Irishtown the caber is usually made from a Larch tree...

 as well as Highland Dance and pipe and drum competitions. The games span three days and attract as many as 50,000 people, they are the largest Highland Games

Highland games

Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &(-è_çà in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain...

 of its kind outside of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. One of the most spectacular events of the Highland Games is the Massed Bands, in which over 50 pipe and drum bands take the field in waves and play together as a single entity.

The Glengarry Games were first staged in 1948, and are home to the North American Pipe Band championships. Although primarily intended to be a showcase of traditional Scottish events such as the caber toss, the games also serve as an annual gathering of area residents as well as the various clan societies across Canada and the United States.

On Saturday 31 July 2004, the MacCulloch School of Dance set a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Massed Performance of Highland and Step Dance'. 505 dancers and two musicians performed for 5 minutes and 13 seconds in a display of celtic dance.