An athlete lifts a wooden log and tosses it, trying to turn it all the way over. When it turns past 90 degrees, the judges score where it lands as if they were reading a clock face, and a 12 o'clock landing is a perfect score. A turn always beats a non-turn. Most people who stop by New Centre Park on Highland Games Saturday see the toss and clap. Fewer know they just watched a scored result, and that the athlete's next throw is trying to beat it.
This year's Clover Highland Games are on Saturday, November 14, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New Centre Park, 499 Memorial Drive. The Town of Clover is the host, and it bills the day as a celebration of its sister-city tie to Larne, Northern Ireland. That tie shows up all year on welcome-sign plaques and on a Main Street building. On this Saturday it comes with athletes, judges and scores. If you know what the throwers are trying to do, the day turns from a festival you walk through into a competition you can follow.
The throwing starts when the gates open
The heavy athletics are run by the Southeastern Highland Athletics Group, known as S.H.A.G. The group says it brings the equipment, trained personnel and know-how that a game needs to run. On its 2026 schedule, Clover is listed for November 14 as an affiliated game. Athletes sign in by 8:30 a.m. and throwing begins at 9.
Throwing starts at the same hour the festival opens. S.H.A.G. lists these Clover groups for 2026:
- A's and Lightweights, competing as a split group
- B's
- Women's Open and Women's Masters, as a split group
- Men's Masters
Groups are limited, and the competition takes place at the Clover Amphitheater inside New Centre Park. The Town's event page says athletes "of all skill levels" are welcome to compete through S.H.A.G. So the field mixes experienced throwers with people newer to the sport, and with several divisions throwing, there's usually someone mid-attempt.
What each event is actually measuring
S.H.A.G. publishes plain-language rules for every event on its events page. Here is a short version you can keep on your phone at the amphitheater.
| Event | What's thrown | How it's judged |
|---|---|---|
| Caber | A wooden log, lifted and tossed | A full turn is scored on a clock face, 12 o'clock is perfect; a throw that doesn't turn past 90 degrees is scored by its angle, and turns always win |
| Open Stone | A stone, put one-handed from a marked area | Held at the neck until release, judged on distance |
| Braemar Stone | A heavier stone | Thrown standing, with no approach allowed |
| Heavy and light weight for distance | A metal weight, round, bullet or box-shaped, on a direct or chain handle | One-handed throw for distance |
| Heavy and light hammer | A metal head on a long handle | Feet stay planted, no approach |
| Sheaf | A 16- or 20-pound burlap bag of hay or twine, lighter for women | Pitched with a fork over a raised bar, three attempts at each height |
| Weight over bar | A 56-pound weight | Thrown one-handed over a bar, same format as the sheaf |
Knowing two details helps when you watch. First, the weights change by division. In heavy weight for distance, men throw 56 pounds, women throw 28, and masters or novice throwers use 42. The heavy hammer is 22 pounds for men and 16 for women. Two throws that land in the same spot can mean very different things depending on who threw them.
Second, the sheaf and weight-over-bar play out like a high jump. Each athlete gets three tries at a height. Then the bar goes up and the field gets smaller. Those two events have the clearest finish for spectators. You can see who's still in.
The two stone events look alike but run on different rules. In the open stone the athlete puts the stone from a marked throwing area, held at the neck until release, and S.H.A.G. notes that at higher levels it starts to look a lot like Olympic shot put. The Braemar stone is heavier, and the thrower has to stand still with no approach.
Why a York County town throws a Scottish festival at all
The athletics are Scottish. Clover's reason for hosting them goes back to Northern Ireland. According to the Town's sister-city page, Clover and Larne twinned in September 1997. Ten years later, in September 2007, a Clover delegation traveled to Larne to finalize a Sister Cities Agreement. The Greater Clover Chamber of Commerce's history page dates the first connection to 1999 and says it started when Larne leaders found ancestral ties between the two places. Either way, the connection began in the late 1990s, and the formal agreement followed in 2007.
The ancestry is local. Clover's 2022 comprehensive plan says Scots-Irish settlers who came south from Pennsylvania settled much of the area. Larne was one of the departure points for that kind of migration. The Town's page notes that Larne is one of the closest ports to the Scottish coast. It also describes Larne's Memorial to the Emigrants in Curran Park, a statue of a family on its way to an emigrant ship bound for America. The Town's page puts the relationship this way:
"Modern Larne is very proud of its American connections and is more than glad to put out the welcome mat to its cousins from across the pond."
You have probably passed the evidence without thinking about it. The Town bought the building at 103 North Main Street on May 29, 1998, and named it the Larne Building after its new sister city. The Town of Clover Ulster American Society, formed in August 2006 to carry the agreement forward, lists its work on the Town page. That includes commemorative plaques on the welcome signs, Irish Heritage Appreciation Month every September, and Young Artist and Young Author competitions every March.
Plaques and a building name are easy to drive past. A caber toss is much harder to miss.
A festival about as old as the twinning
The games have run alongside the sister-city tie almost from the start. The Gaston Gazette's November 2016 coverage described that year's event as the 20th annual Feis Chlobhair, or Clover Scottish Games and Scots-Irish Festival. Back then it was held at Blue Eagle Academy. The Gazette reported visitors enjoying caber and sheaf tosses, border collie demonstrations, Irish dance and lessons, storytelling, puppetry, pipe bands and bagpiping. By 2021 the Town's listing called it the 25th annual Highland Games, held at the New Centre Park Amphitheater. The bands on that year's printed schedule were The Belfast Beggars at 10 a.m. and Ghosts of Bannockburn at 1 p.m.
The move to New Centre Park also brought a sharper focus on competition. Ahead of the 2022 games, the Town's preview said athletes from across the region would compete in four men's and women's divisions for the title of 2022 Clover Highland Games Athlete of the Year. It promised Scottish and Irish folk and punk rock between events. In 2024, WRHI described clans and societies running educational booths that shared family histories alongside food and merchandise vendors. A December 2024 issue of the Roaring Eagle school newspaper reported more than 500 people at that year's games.
Those details are history, not this year's program. For 2026, the Town promises Highland athletics, live music, cultural performances, arts and crafts, local vendors, food and activities for all ages. Check the Town's event page as the date gets closer for the latest details.
Main Street picks up where New Centre Park leaves off
The games open Clover's late-year calendar, and the next two events move downtown, past the Larne Building. These dates are on the Town's event pages:
- Clover Highland Games: Saturday, November 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., New Centre Park, 499 Memorial Drive.
- Holiday on Main: Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Main Street, with local vendors, free photos with Santa, performances, treats and food trucks. Vendor applications are due Monday, November 16. Event page.
- Clover Christmas Parade: Sunday, December 6, at 3 p.m. downtown. The Town is taking entries through Sunday, November 1, so any group planning a float has only a few days left. Parade page.
If downtown has felt different lately, our earlier look at how Main Street is starting to stay open through dinner covers that shift. For the area just past town, the Lake Wylie weekly rhythm guide covers the lake side of the map.
On November 14, plan to arrive by 9 a.m., keep the table above handy, and watch where the first caber lands on the clock.
At Timothy Garland Group, we think the Larne Building and the welcome-sign plaques tell you as much about Clover as any listing does, and that's the kind of local knowledge we bring when neighbors ask what their home is worth. If you're curious about yours, our Clover neighborhood page is a good place to start. When you're ready, ask us for a free home valuation and we'll give you a straight answer.
