By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
After taking a hiatus last year, the Kingsville Highland Games – with its pipes and drums, dancing, haggis toss, and tug-of-war – will once again be hosted this summer, thanks to support from the Provincial Government.
On the morning of Wednesday, April 8, Essex MPP Anthony Leardi announced the Kingsville Highland Games is the recipient of $20,000 worth of financial support through the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund – used to promote the Province’s cultural attractions – at an announcement hosted at the Red Lantern Coffee Co. in Kingsville.
Of the funds, $16,000will be provided as a grant, with the remaining a repayable loan.
Leardi said the funds will support the event in offering the competitions of caber toss, piping, drumming, dancing, international tug-of-war, cultural ceremonies, clan village exhibits, and heritage demonstrations, such as sheep herding and shearing.
He is looking forward to his favourite part, the March of the Clans.
“I am very excited for this year’s games,” Leardi said, joking that Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers better be ready for the Mayors’ Haggis Hurl competition, which pits local dignitaries against one another.
“We are so thankful,” Mayor Rogers said of the financial support. He said Kingsville has a great working relationship with the Province, adding the Town of Kingsville has also allocated Community Grant dollars to this event.
The event, Rogers added, is important to the community and is a tourism driver.
“People from all over the world are coming to our small neck of the woods,” Rogers commented.
This year’s event will be hosted at Colasanti’s, which the Kingsville Mayor said is a “match made in heaven.”
Chairperson of the Kingsville Highland Games, Doug Plumb, thanked the Province for the support.
“The magnitude of this type of event just simply would not be possible without the support. We are volunteers. We have a great committee, and I thank them for their support as well. This event coming up, is going to be the best Highland Games yet.”
Plumb explained there were no Kingsville Highland Games last year, as it went through a growing phase. The event has been hosted at several locations in its existence, from Lakeside Park, Jack Miner’s, and The Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village. The Committee used the hiatus to get its not-for-profit status, so it would no longer need a beneficiary.
Getting the funding from the Province, and the Town of Kingsville, “is huge,” Plumb added. Plumb is particularly looking forward to the tug-of-war activity, which he said is really taking off. A team from Northern Ireland is slated to go, with others from Nova Scotia, and Cornwall, Ontario, and everywhere in between.
“Tug-of-war, there is just something about it that attracts people,” Plumb said.
He was eager to invite everyone to enjoy the 2026 Kingsville Highland Games on June 27.
This rendition of the Kingsville Highland Games began in 2019. Before that, the last time the Town of Kingsville hosted the Kingsville Highland Games was in 1987.