The Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games is the latest activity in the area to return to in-person activities for the first time since the pandemic.

The festival was held virtually in 2020, and some competitions were still run for a select few in 2021, but the 2022 edition is entirely open to the public all weekend long.

"The virtual events were great, it's nitce to get out there and do it, but there's nothing like having real crowds here," said heavy events competitor Jamie Trask.

The event celebrating local Scottish heritage was in full swing Friday night with music, dancing, and competitions.

Saturday was headlined by heavy event competition like caber toss and weight for distance.

"They're pretty crazy," said Trask. "We throw things that are heavy, we throw them far, we throw them high, we throw them right overtop of our heads sometimes, and then it comes down right beside our feet."

Organizers expect more than 25,000 people out over the course of the weekend to attend the 77th annual festival.

"To see the crowd coming back, waiting in line as early as yesterday morning to reserve their camping spot, to be part of a fantastic festival that we haven't seen here in Fergus in three years, obviously the crowd speaks for itself," said Matthew Bennett-Monty, the vice-president of the event.

"We're not juts a music festival, we are not an athletic festival, we are truly a little bit of everything," said executive director Elizabeth Bender. "You are guaranteed to hear bagpipes."