LAKETOWN TWP, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Nov. 3, 2022) – A future Highland Games champion may literally have roots in Laketown Township.
Local participants in the Holland Celtic Festival and Highland Games collected more than a dozen fallen trees from two township parks on Tuesday, Nov. 1, that will be used for caber toss, a traditional Scottish competition of throwing a large, tapered pole.
“We found the fallen trees in Wolters Woods as I was walking with a friend of mine,” said Kate Boeve of Holland about the park at 6281 147th Ave. “She really wanted to walk there because she had heard it was very nice. It was lovely, and while walking I noticed many downed trees that were nice and straight, so I called
the township office to see if they wouldn’t mind us collecting the downed trees for Highland Games.”
Boeve is a world-class Highland Games athlete and record holder.
The township does not allow people to take standing trees from parks. Boeve and a group of three others chose trees that had already fallen. Brett Grams, Laketown facilities operations, supervised the removal. “It’s like shopping for a Christmas tree,” joked kilt-wearing Tom Kassion as he walked through the leaves at Wolters Woods checking fallen trees for strength, weight and straightness. “They can’t be old and brittle or too full of insect destruction because they need
to be able to withstand landing on end repeatedly,” Boeve said.
Several logs also came from the township hall, 4338 Beeline Road, where an overgrown area had just been cleared. Boeve and Kassion were joined by fellow caber-tossers Paul Markel and Eleazar Almanza Jr. to collect the fallen trees, some of which needed three athletes to pull from the leaves and hoist onto the trailer. Taylor True Value Rental, 62 S. Waverly Road, donated the 20-foot trailer used to haul the logs out of the parks, Boeve said.
This is the first time Boeve has used trees from Laketown Township. She and her teammates usually get their cabers from the Cadillac area.
The 2023 Holland Celtic Festival and Highland Games will be June 23-24. The Kalamazoo Scottish Festival and Highland Games will be Sept. 9.
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