The Royal Highland Show 2014: An American Perspective

 Last Sunday we went to the 2014 Royal Highland Show.  I had wanted to go since last June, because the day I left Scotland (after having an interview for the job I currently hold) was the first day of the RHS 2013, and the taxi company made me leave Dundee at 5:30 am for a 9:30 am flight out of Edinburgh, even though the trip is only about 1 hour. The Royal Highland show is THAT popular.  And, apparently, that close to the airport. So I thought there must be something to it.  The BBC reported this year that close to 200,000 people attended the show - that's more than the population of Dundee.

It turned out that some of our friends here are lifetime members of the Royal Highland show, so they get tickets for all 4 days of the show, every year. They couldn't go on Sunday so they gave us their tickets, their fancy member tags, and their parking pass. Bonanza!

So what is the Royal Highland Show? Call it a celebration of rural living, and things eminently Scottish. 

There were...Horses, including heavy horses, like Clydesdales and Percherons, small horses like Shetland Ponies, and pony club ponies. The (20-second) video below is the Young Masters Show Jumpers warming up.

Winner of the Heavy Horse Turnout, Team of 6

Girls watching the Clydesdale Young Handlers

And Cows. Seriously, more types of cows than I have ever seen. I tried to capture the breadth of cows by photographing the Parade of Cows (really...and cows like being paraded a lot less than horses, if the distressed mooing was any indication) but there were maybe 20 of each of 10 types of cows and I ultimately gave up. See the 2014 RHS Livestock Showing Timetable for an idea of all the breeds and categories.

Trying to capture the breadth of cows, maybe 5 types in this photo.

The Grand Prize winner, perhaps an Aberdeen Angus cow, but don't quote me. He was humongous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Highland cow. I know these - you don't get them elsewhere!

And of course there were sheep and goats.

Amazing horns.

And there was Food: Haggis, beefburgers, and (I wish I had gotten a picture of this) a Yorkshire pudding as big as a dinner plate on which you could have sausages and mash OR haggis, neeps and tatties.  Not many veggie choices - I made do with a huge jacket potato with beans & cheese.

It wouldn't be a Scottish festival without a person dressed as a Haggis.

An entire tent of Poultry. Another tent of Rare Breeds (no dogs allowed in this tent). A zillion Dogs, with their people (to amuse the kids we started counting them as we walked across the show area - we stopped at 35).  A small herd of Llamas.  A show called (I kid you not) The Drakes of Hazard, involving a gaggle of running ducks, herded by a dog, who navigated an obstacle course.  I didn't get a picture of that show, because I spent most of it in the bathroom with Claire. This is what happens when you take a potty-training almost three-year-old, well, anywhere.    

Claire pretending to milk the fiberglass cow.

We probably only saw a third of what was there.  We skipped by most of the agricultural equipment. We barely saw the sheep. We only saw a tiny bit of horse riding (show jumping finals). We didn't visit any of the sponsors tents (even the Marks & Spencer farm-to-table tent that was larger than any Marks & Spencer store in Dundee). 

As for the American perspective: while this event bore some resemblance to county fairs we have attended (Pima County Fair in Arizona, for example) it was much bigger and seemed truly representative of Scotland, which is still by and large a rural economy.  Drive 30 minutes from even the largest city, and you'll be among rolling green hills, dotted with sheep and cows. Through its focus on the agricultural diversity of Scotland, the Royal Highland Show captures this feeling.  Chances are, we'll be back next year to see some of what we missed.