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“This is like village Scotland,” said Karen SheltonJohnson, the chairwoman of the games Highland dance competition. “This is more like being in the country; it’s warm and friendly.” The games drew people from across Washington and even beyond the international border with plenty of Canadians making the journey south to compete
in weight tossing, Highland dancing, archaic sword fighting, bagpiping and of course, caber tossing. Grunts and yells could be heard throughout the morning as modern-day Highlanders competed in various athletic events, including weight over the bar, weight throw, hammer throw and stone put. A family from Overland Park, Kan., made the stop one of its last before returning to the Midwest. The three Lindsey children — Graeme,
16, Quinn, 14, and Piper, 10 — took a special liking to the edgier activities like axe throwing. The siblings lined up about 12 feet away from three different tree rounds for targets and hurled their axes. “When we saw this 4,000 miles away, we thought, ‘Why not?’” said Susie Scott, their grandmother. Graeme had the best toss of the three, sinking the axe head into the round several times, while Quinn managed just a few. Their sister, Piper,
however, only hit her mark once. Though a bit anachronistic, a few sword fighters stretching from 10th-century viking to 14th-century knight donned their helms and armor and clashed for spectators. Only one of the warriors came as a Scottish knight. After one bout, Wayne Wright of Bellingham grabbed his side, wincing as he removed his helmet. “It does hurt,” Wright said. “It is exhausting in there.” Once the fighters opened
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the ring to children, the line instantly grew 10 deep. Several of the would-be warriors came straight from the Highland dancing competition, many of them girls still wearing their kilts and competition number, and tried their hand at sword play. Highland dancing ran all day at the games, from 9 a.m. until the closing around 5 p.m. The traditional dances started with beginners and featured world-class Highland dancers in the afternoon. For the beginners, performing on stage was a true delight. “It’s really fun to be in competitions and get prizes,” said
Flora Cummings, 9, of Lake Forest Park. Flora, her 6-year-old sister Elinor, mom Judith Cummings and dad Dale Cummings later performed as the Fiddle Fitted Cummings. Judith Cummings, a Scotland native, said similar events back home are much larger and she enjoyed the Whidbey games for its toned-down nature. “It’s a lot smaller and more intimate,” Cummings said. Wares were plentiful, from flags with Scottish family seals and crests to fully-functional handcrafted longbows.
Justin Burnett / The Record
State Department of Ecology officials Louise Bardy and Eugene Freeman show a section of a holed underground fuel tank during a Freeland Water and Sewer District meeting Monday. Thousands of gallons of gasoline leaked through a similar hole in a former Freeland gas station.
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just to be sure. It’s still not clear how far the plume has spread and they will provide a better picture about concentrations and distance traveled. Freeman said the new wells will be placed in locations believed to be ahead of the fuel plume. Immediate contamination results may dictate the need for additional wells, he said. “Basically, with each step we’re trying to figure out where the head of the plume is,” Freeman said. He stressed that ecology’s role in the wells is largely advisory. The bill and the work is the responsibility of the former station’s owner. Also unclear is the quantity of fuel spilled. Louise Bardy, Voluntary Cleanup Program supervisor, confirmed last week a leakage of 7,000 gallons, but revised that to just 3,000 gallons at Monday’s meeting. Several people questioned her on the discrepancy and she said the latter number is the only figure she could find in ecology documents before the meeting.
An attachment to a June 3 letter from ecology regulators to the station owner’s hired consulting firm shows the release as 7,000 gallons. In an interview following the meeting, Bardy said she could not be certain of the true number but, according to Freeman, a 5,000-gallon difference is inconsequential. It may seem like a lot, but underground fuel-tank leaks are common and some are much larger by comparison. He cited one case that resulted in a spill in excess of 16,000 gallons. Freeman noted that while drilling wells could begin within one month, the timeline will depend on agreements with private property owners. Commissioner Eric Hansen said the district may not wait solely on ecology for news and may “do some investigation ourselves.” That will likely include watching for contaminants in district wells, though just how often will depend on the data revealed by the new wells. “Routine testing at our wells will be important,” Hansen said.