05/31/2026
This pin-back button celebrates the Embro Highland Games. The Embro Highland Games are the longest running Highland Games in Ontario, with the 2026 Games marking the event’s 89th year.
The Games come out of a much longer tradition of pride and celebration of the region’s Scottish heritage. Scottish settlers arrived in West Zorra in 1829. Their first priorities were to build homes, farms, schools, and churches, but they soon started seeking out opportunities to celebrate their Scottish roots in their new Canadian home. Thus, in 1856, the Embro Highland Society formed to “preserve the language, dress, music, literature, and games of Scotland.” The Embro Highland Society operated for over three decades before it dissolved in 1888.
The Embro Highland Games we know today are hosted annually on July 1st by the Zorra Caledonian Society. The Society formed in 1937 with the specific goal of renewing the annual Scottish Games. The Society’s first games occurred only three months after the organization formed and were considered a major success. By 1939, the games were more established. An estimated 9,000 people attended, with participants hailing from Ingersoll, Detroit, Hamilton, Montreal, Toronto, St. Thomas, and many places in-between. Events included tossing the caber, shot-put, dancing, piping, and a pipe-band competition. It looked a lot like the Embro Highland Games of today!
Want to learn more about the Society’s legacy? Join us on Tuesday, June 9 at 7pm as we welcome Helen Dowd for the June Speaker Series. Behind the Embro Highland Games: Leveraging a Legacy of Leadership
