Cowal Highland Gathering Cowal Highland Gathering The Cowal Highland Gathering (also known as the Cowal Games) is an annual Highland games held in the Scottish town of Dunoon, on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, over the final weekend in August. The first record of an organised Highland games in the town is in 1871, the same year as the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban started. In subsequent years games were held at New Year. The organisation of the Cowal events and other games around Scotland was due to a wide interest in Highland sports, partly stemming from Queen Victoria's love of Scotland.
Glasgow Highland Games full Scottish regalia with bagpipes. But a full-fledged formal celebration of all things Scottish did not take place until 1986, when the first Glasgow Highland Games was held. Since that time, the event has expanded greatly to include the traditional highland games in professional and amateur competitions, a Ceilidh, bagpipe and highland dancing contests, parades, displays by dozens of Scottish clans, vendors of Scottish merchandise, and much more. The festival grounds has expanded to include two separate competition fields. The games are held on the weekend following Memorial Day each year. The Glasgow Highland Games are one of three highland