The Highland capital buzzed all the way from Bught Park to the city centre over the weekend as Invernessians celebrated their gala weekend.
The festivities began on Friday outside Eden Court theatre, with Inverness Pipe Band, performers from the Elizabeth Fraser School of Highland Dancing and members of the Inverness branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society entertaining the crowds.
The action moved to the Northern Meeting park for the perennial family favourite, the Highlands’ Strongest Man and Strongest Woman championships, organised by the city’s Forge Gym.
Enthralled spectators saw Jamie Gorrian crowned 2019 Strongest Man, and Mary Anderson Strongest Woman.
With its 200th anniversary looming in 2022, the Inverness Highland Games are a cherished feature of the city’s events programme and the proceedings certainly didn’t disappoint an 8,000 crowd.
A mass Highland Fling opened the festivities, with the crowd including visitors from as far afield as Taiwan, according to organiser Gerry Reynolds of Highland Council.
Thereafter, the entire Inverness Royal British Legion Pipe Band was inducted into the Games Hall of Fame to mark the ensemble’s 100th anniversary.
Mr Reynolds said this year’s heavyweight competitions were some of the most exciting he had witnessed in his 20 years of involvement with the games.
He said: “There were three Czechs and three Americans in the really busy line-up, which included some amazing women.”
The hotly-anticipated lifting of the Inverness Stonemason’s 250lb stone was successfully attempted for only the 14th time in the games’ history.
Mr Reynolds said: “Luke Crowley managed to get it over the bar to the largest roar from the crowd that I’ve ever heard.”
This year, at the suggestion of the Inverness Highland Youth Forum, the Games committee agreed that under-12s could enter free.
A new multi-event competition for junior athletes was also introduced to the track and field events taking place throughout the afternoon, including a Triathlon event.
It wasn’t all a show of human endurance and strength, with impressive automotive looks and power also on display in the Show and Shine Inverness car show, featuring 100 fascinating vehicles.
Around Bught Park, there was a traders’ village, a craft fair, a sports zone, solo piping competitions organised by the Inverness piping society, and Armed Forces displays.
The popular Clan Village brought 20 different groups together in the biggest annual inter-clan gathering in Scotland.
Elsewhere in the park, there was a Well Ness show aimed at helping people relax, a shinty festival and a musical showcase featuring four emerging Highland bands.
A lucky winner of more than £500 is still being sought by the organisers of Thrifty Fifty, the new fundraising lottery in aid of Inverness free public events.
The lucky number is 476. The winner of £65 from the Sunday draw also needs to come forward, with ticket number 12.
As cleaning-up operations got underway, Mr Reynolds said: “We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. The weather held off and there was a great atmosphere right from the Friday night. What a welcome for tourists visiting our city.”
