Highland games "Cowal Games", held in Dunoon, Scotland, every August, is the largest Highland games in the world, attracting around 3,500 competitors and somewhere in the region of 23,000 spectators from around the globe. Worldwide, however, it is exceeded in terms of spectators by two gatherings in the United States: the estimated 30,000 that attend Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina and the even larger gathering—the largest in the Northern Hemisphere—that has taken place every year since 1866. This event is currently held on Labor Day weekend in Pleasanton, California, and their Sesquicentennial Games held on September 5–6, 2015, attracted record crowds close
Highland Scottish Initially, upon deregulation, Highland continued to enjoy the monopoly position across much of its operating area. Competition started around Fort William with the arrival of a new company, Gaelic Bus, owned by Alexander MacConnacher, Brecklet, Ballachulish. However, it was the competition in the biggest town in the Highland Scottish network that was to prove controversial. Highland Scottish was the sole operator in Inverness and provided all bus services in and around the town. However, in May 1988, a group of ex-Highland drivers formed Inverness Traction Ltd, operating a fleet of leased minibuses and operating in parallel to Highland's Inverness network.