RURAL HILL NEWS RELEASE
Contact: 704.875.3113 or office@ruralhill.net, Photos available at www.ruralhill.net

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR THE APRIL 2009
SCOTTISH FESTIVAL AND LOCH NORMAN HIGHLAND GAMES
AND MARCH 2009 KILTED CLAY SHOOT 

HUNTERSVILLE, NC:  Warm up, stretch, work out…get ready for the fun!  Online registrations are now open for the Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games set for April 17 – 19, 2009 and the Kilted Clay Shoot on March 21, 2009 to benefit Rural Hill.  Full event information and registrations are available online at www.ruralhill.net.

The Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games have something for everyone.  Saturday and Sunday offer Scottish heavy athletics and a wide range of competitions that anyone can enter including children’s field competitions.  Online registrations are currently available for the sanctioned competitions including Highland Dancing, Pipe Band and Individual Piping & Drumming, and Harp & Fiddle.  Amateur athletic competitions may be entered on site Sunday including the Scottish Heavy Athletics, Battle Axe Competition, Highland Climbing Wall, Long Bow Archery Competition (Saturday), Highland Wrestling (Saturday), Heavy Stone Lift and Carry (Saturday), Track & Field-Kilted Races (Sunday), Demonstration of the Ferguson Rifle (Sunday), Lassies Games (Sunday) and Children’s Field Competitions. 

Saturday also offers some of the competitive highlights of the Games - the Professional Scottish Heavy Events including the 16 lb Stone, 22 lb Hammer Throw, 28 lb Weight Throw, 56 lb Weight Throw, 56 lb Weight Toss for Height, Turning the Caber, and Tossing the Sheaf.   Note: Professional athletes are by invitation only. 

The events of the Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games are deeply rooted in Scottish history.  “When celebrating in times of peace, the clansmen would go out into the mountains for a ‘great hunt’ and after, a feast and celebration would be held.  The rival clansmen would relax by testing each other's prowess at various sports - running, jumping, wrestling, or primitive forms of weight putting with stones.  Lastly the clansmen would vie with each other in piping and in dancing, the pipers taking it in turns to demonstrate their skills and the clansmen to demonstrate their agility and neatness of movement by dancing complicated steps to the pipe music.”  (Edited excerpts taken from The Essential Guide to Highland Games.) 

Also available for online registration at this time is The Kilted Clay Shoot sponsored by the Catawba Valley Scottish Society to benefit the Major Davidson Tall Case Clock Fund.  To be held on March 21 from 8 AM – 1 PM at Meadow Wood Farms in Waxhaw, The Shoot is limited to 24 teams with 4 shooters per team.  There will be 12 sites plus a flurry shoot.  Clays, shells, continental breakfast and lunch, and goody bags will be provided to registered shooters.  Children may also participate in a separate ages 10 -16 tournament, and there will be separate gun safety and shooting instruction for kids.  There will be an extra point awarded to each shooter in kilt, and 2 extra points for an entire kilted team! A perfect score is 100 points, and odds may be increased by purchasing mulligans (extra shots) for $5 each. 

The cost for the shoot is $150 per adult shooter or $500 for a team of 4.  Warm-ups are available for $15 per shooter or $40 per team.  1 child (ages 10-16) may be included per registered adult for $25.  Non-shooting guests are welcomed for $15 which includes the continental breakfast and lunch.  A signed waiver is required for all participants.  Registration begins at 8 AM and The Shoot begins at 9 AM, with the lunch and awards to follow at 12:30 PM.  Advance registration and information is available online at www.ruralhill.net. 

Complete Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games information is available online at www.ruralhill.net. Discount tickets are available.  Tickets may be purchased in advance via the website or admission at the gate is as follows:  

·        Friday Evening Call o’ the Clans: FREE

·        Friday Evening Scottish Country Welcome Dance: Gallery: $3/Participant: $15

·        2-Day Ticket (Sat. & Sun. and includes the Sat. evening Celtic Concert and Jam): $25

·        Saturday Admission (includes the evening Celtic Concert and Jam): $20

·        Saturday Evening Concert and Jam Only: $10 (after 4:00 PM)

·        Sunday Admission: $10

·        Saturday Evening Scottish Country Dance: Gallery: $3/Participant: $20

·        NOTE: Saturday & Sunday Parking: $5 per day (Includes one commemorative program per car) Proceeds support the preservation of Rural Hill.

Rural Hill is located at 4431 Neck Road (off Beatties Ford Road) in Huntersville, 28078.  The former homestead of Major John and Violet Davidson, the 265 acre site is maintained and promoted by The Catawba Valley Scottish Society (CVSS).  Rural Hill features annual events such as the Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games, The Amazing Maize Maze at Rural Hill and the Rural Hill Sheepdog Trials.  CVSS is a non-profit organization supported through membership and donations.  For more information on events or for financial support accepted securely online, please visit www.ruralhill.net.   

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