The roar of the crowd, the thud of stone on turf and the unmistakable sight of kilted athletes hurling logs and weights will once again fill the Great Lawn at Old Westbury Gardens as the Empire Throwing Club brings traditional Scottish heavy athletics to this year’s Long Island Celtic Festival and Highland Games.
Set for Saturday, Aug. 23, the all-day festival celebrates Celtic culture through music, dance, crafts and sport. Among the highlights: a full slate of Highland Games demonstrations presented by Empire Throwing Club, an upstate-based athletic group with a growing reach and reputation.
“We are a throwing club for the Scottish Highland Games, which is maybe a bit of a fringe sport,” said Mac Dillman, founder of Empire Throwing Club. “But it has been done for hundreds and hundreds of years—and done the same way.”
Formed in 2022, Empire Throwing Club quickly expanded from a modest beginners’ clinic into a full-fledged athletic organization. The group now hosts five seasonal events, including sanctioned competitions where athletes compete for rankings and qualify for national and world championships.
“There’s nothing artificial about it,” Dillman said. “Everybody out there is an athlete. They train like athletes, they recover like athletes, they compete like athletes.”
Heavy athletics competitions include nine events—such as the caber toss, stone throw and weight-over-bar—that test strength, precision and technique. According to Dillman, all competitors must train for all nine, as scores are cumulative.
“If you’re excellent at throwing the stone because you did shot put in college, but you never figure out how to toss the caber, then that’s going to be a problem,” he said. “It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of training—in the gym and on the field.”
This year marks a new chapter in the Highland Games at Old Westbury Gardens. The Celtic Festival, which succeeded the former Long Island Scottish Games, is now in its second year under new leadership.
“We’re excited to bring our flavor to it—to introduce events that people might not be familiar with but are core to Highland Games elsewhere,” Dillman said.
Festivalgoers will also have the chance to try events firsthand. While the festival isn’t a sanctioned competition, the Empire Throwing Club will offer “walk-on” opportunities for those curious to pick up a weight and give it a go—no kilt required.
“We love to show people what we do,” Dillman said. “If someone wants to get into it seriously, all they need to compete officially is a kilt—and a willingness to train. We’re very beginner-friendly.”
Though based near Albany, the club draws athletes from across the region, including Long Island. One local thrower discovered the club after attending a game upstate and has since traveled to compete in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and beyond.
“He’s doing phenomenally well,” Dillman said. “And he’s not the only one. We’ve had folks who started with us just a couple of years ago and have already been invited to world championship events.”
Empire’s athletes come from all walks of life—teachers, tradespeople, first responders—and compete across divisions by age, weight and gender. “It’s not just the stereotype of a 300-pound strongman,” Dillman said. “We have master’s classes for people over the ages of 40, 50, even 70. And for every men’s class, there’s a women’s class to match. It’s a sport for anyone.”
Dillman, whose heritage includes three Scottish surnames—McCullough, McEachern and McNabb—first saw the games as a high schooler at the Capital District Scottish Festival. Years later, he entered his first competition and never looked back.
“The community is just so inviting,” he said. “It’s a great outlet for fitness, for competition and for connecting with heritage. I never stopped. And I wanted there to be more opportunities in my area, so I started the club.”
The Long Island Celtic Festival and Highland Games runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features bagpipe and drum performances, Celtic music, traditional dance, weaving demonstrations and family entertainment. Admission includes access to Old Westbury Gardens, a historic Gold Coast estate.
Advance tickets are available online through Aug. 22 at a discounted rate: $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $12 for youth. Children under 6 are free.
For those interested in learning more about the Empire Throwing Club or exploring the sport, Dillman encourages visiting empirethrowingclub.com or following the group on social media.
“Whether you’re here to watch or here to try, there’s a place for you,” he said. “And if you’re looking to compete—we’ll show you the ropes.”
Tickets available at: www.oldwestburygardens.org/celtic-festival
