- All right, the end of the week is here.

And, for me, it means it's time to put on the old exploring cap and go check out some local bars, festivals, or, you know, cool events.

In the history of the Central Valley, many events have come and gone, but the truly special ones make their way into the category of tradition.

And, in today's episode, we're gonna stop by two such events, Fresno's annual Scottish Games Festival and Fresno's annual Greek Fest.

Offering a touch of the extreme and a taste of effectual charm, these two events celebrate the cultures, practices, and thousand-year traditions that the Irish and Greek communities of Fresno have endeavored to keep alive for generations.

From the food, (upbeat music) to the fights, (upbeat music) to the drinkin', (upbeat music) to the dancin', these events are unlike any other.

So join me as we take a look at these weekend wonders.

More than just amazing feats of strength, the Fresno Scottish Games have a history and culture that is beloved and cherished by many.

With historically accurate fighting, food, and competitions, the Highland Games are a surefire way to get anybody into the medieval mindset.

Now, I knew this going in, but I'll be honest, I was not prepared for how much history and culture was woven in to this fascinating tradition.

All right, we are at the Highland Games, and we're gonna see amazing feats of strength and find out why.

What's that all about?

Why are they throwin' hay?

What's the deal with the big poles?

That's what we're here to find out.

(upbeat Scottish music) All right, I'm out here with Mike, and, Mike, you're a judge, but, obviously, you must be an athlete as well.

- That's right, today, I'm both throwing and judging here at Fresno.

It's a fun time to throw with the other 40 guys who are out here tossin' heavy stuff.

- How did all this get started, the Highland Games?

- The Scottish Games are incredibly old, dating back to like 1000 A.D., where, basically, they were prohibited for practicing for war, so invented other games to both build strength and build skill and ability.

So, culturally, this goes back very, very far for us.

- Wow!

That is cool.

So they would basically pretend to be doing these games where they're actually training to fight?

- Yes, yeah, absolutely.

Like, you can imagine, you know, chucking a stone has a lot of application if you can't practice with a sword.

- Right.

Now, what are you doing exactly?

- So, in the Scottish Games, every athlete on the field participates in nine events.

And just kind of in summary, the first event we usually do is called Stones, and there's two stones, a light and a heavy stone.

And just like shot put, your goal is to push it out as far as you can go.

After we do Stones, we do what's called Throwing Weights.

The movement's a lot like a discus.

Only, the weight's on a chain and it weighs 56 pounds.

- What?

- Yes.

- 56 pounds?

- 56 pounds.

And then, once we're done with the weights, we typically go to hammers.

After that, we do what you just saw me throwing over there, which is the weight over bar, which is truth in advertising.

And so, we take a 56, in my case, for the old guys, a 42-pound weight and chuck it over our head.

- Oh, just 42, they lighten it up for you guys.

- Yes, and the event we're about to move to is called Sheath, which is where we take a 20 or 16-pound bag, depending on the class, put it on the end of a pitchfork and chuck it in the air as high as we can go.

And then, probably the most iconic of all the events is called Caber, and that is where we take, basically, a small telephone pole and your goal is to flip it end-over-end.

- [Roy] Like the Hulk, you're just out there like the Hulk.

- [Mike] That's it.

- Just tossin' telephone poles.

And stones, when you say stone, it's an actual stone.

It's a big, giant rock.

- Like, you go to the river, one of the things we do when we go on vacation and, like, around rivers, is we look for rocks, and we're like, "I think that rock is right."

We'll pick it up and weigh it, then we'll take it home.

And if it's a good one, it can make it into the games.

- So, apparently, I guess I got my workout routine all wrong.

Instead of going to the gym and pushing weights around, maybe I should just be, I don't know, throwing on a kilt and tossing rocks.

Maybe then my workout schedule could finally be set in stone.

(laughs sarcastically) See what I did there?

Dang!

The Highland Games include more than just brute strength.

Within Scottish battle culture, you can't ignore the weapons and gear dawned by the Scottish knights of yesteryear.

Now, I've always felt like, "Yeah, I might have some knight blood in me."

But I think we'll know for certain once we get our hands on a sword.

There's some mean lookin' weapons over here, man!

- Oh yeah.

- What do we got?

My gosh!

What is this toad sticker?

- That is a mace.

- Okay.

- In this case, a two-handed one.

Flange is good for breaking bones and crushing not the plate itself, but what's under it.

- Now, what's the sword you have here?

- This is a classical example of a European longsword.

This one is blunted, 'cause I use this for fightin' with my fellow peers.

- How much do these weigh?

- Not much.

If you'd like to hold it.

- Yeah, oh yeah.

- Maybe three or four pounds.

(mesmerizing music) You wanna have a good amount (mesmerizing music) of heft to 'em, because (mesmerizing music) you wanna be able to feel the blows, but, at the same time, you don't want it to be cumbersome.

And actual swords of the period were even lighter.

- Really?

- Yes.

For example, here, I'll trade you for a second.

- Yeah, totally.

- This is sharp, so be careful.

But granted, it's a little smaller.

But this is a sharp (muffled by mesmerizing music).

(mesmerizing music) An actual example (mesmerizing music) of a recreated sword from Battle of Castillon Bridge, I think it was.

- That's awesome.

- But you can feel, light as a feather.

- That is light.

- Both good for slashing and stabbing.

- Yeah, you could make a couple skewers on this bad boy.

- Oh yeah.

(gentle thrilling music) - Now, I haven't taken a 23andMe, but I must have some knights in my family tree, 'cause these people just keep handing me swords.

What's with all the swords?

- Yeah, this is the old Matthew Cross.

Swords made out of leaf springs from trucks.

Feel how heavy that sucker is.

- Oh my god!

- Just had to go on a quest to find a rental car to get that sword.

We used to hit each other with that old armor right there.

All those dents are from leaf spring swords.

I started doing Renaissance fairs when I was seven years old at Black Point, Novato, the original Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

And back then, they would not let women play male roles, and I wanted to be a soldier.

I wanted to march, I wanted to fight, I wanted to joust, I wanted do all those things, but they wouldn't let me.

- Right.

- So I became a washer woman, okay?

That was my relegated task.

- That's a bummer.

- Yeah, it was.

- That's a far cry.

- Yeah, and then years later, I was at Hanford Renaissance Faire, and I saw this man named Matthew Cross, and he had all these guys in armor, like that over there, made out of car parts, literally, made out of Chevy fenders, and swords made out of leaf springs, and I was fascinated.

And he saw me looking over the fence watching them fight, and he said, "You, you wanna try this?"

And it was the first time any man had ever offered me to get in armor and fight, and I was on it like a duck on a June bug.

And once I got hit on the head a couple times, I was hooked.

- Wow!

- That was 1989, and I've been doing it ever since.

- "Once I got hit on the head, I was hooked."

- Totally hooked, totally hooked.

- And you're out there with fenders, mufflers, mufflers turned into plates, and leaf springs weighing 30 pounds.

- 30 pounds.

- Just beating the crap out of each other.

- Yep.

- And you're like, "This is it."

- This is it, I love this.

- And you've been doing it ever since.

- I've been doing it in one form or another ever since with one group or another.

But, you know, I'm still, I'll do it till the day I die, you know?

- That's awesome.

It's clear that the Highland Games is bigger than anything I could have imagined.

Not only is it a fun glimpse into medieval Scottish culture, but it's also a thousand-year-old tradition that transcends gender and age.

Now, speaking of a thousand-year traditions, any Highland Games worth its salt has one thing in common.

They are graced with the presence of royalty.

The Queen of Scotts, the actual Queen of Scotts?

So your majesty, what brings you out to Fresno today?

- Oh, well, today, we shall be watching the Scottish Games.

- Is this an annual thing for you?

- Of course.

- Now, when you're not at the Scottish Games, what's a normal day for the Queen?

- I just attend a lot of meetings.

- Is that on ye old Zoom?

- I don't believe I know what that is.

- Okay, that's how I have to do a lot of our meetings noweth days.

Now, after this, what's the next big event for the Queen?

- I believe that we shall be doing carney.

- Carney?

- Kearney.

- Kearney.

I have an uncle who's a carney.

Very small hands.

- Ah, as do I.

- Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yep, me and the Queen seem to have a lot in common.

Here at the Highland Fest, the Queen isn't the only one dressing the part.

Tartans, or the plaid colors you see on kilts, help distinguish Scottish clans from one another.

In an effort to learn a bit more, I turned to Ed, a member of the Buchanan clan.

- It's kind of like the original gang colors I guess you could say, like, if my family didn't like yours, we might have to hurt each other with our sgian-dubh.

- Sgian-dubh, what's a sgian-dubh?

- A sgian-dubh is a dagger.

- Okay, wow!

- It was originally a covert weapon that was hidden under the arm.

- Yeah, it's safe to say we got a little bit off track here.

We went from tartans to hidden armpit knives, what?

This one really got away from me.

And why does everyone keep handing me swords?

Yeah, that looks very sharp.

Safe to say though, the Scottish peeps had this whole combat thing down.

But don't worry though, if blunt-force trauma isn't really your thing, Highland Games has got you covered.

You can always opt for a more sophisticated approach.

So we found swords, knives aplenty, but now we got archery.

This is pretty cool, man.

This is a lot of fun.

I didn't realize that they had, like, bows and arrows out here and stuff like that.

That's cool, man.

Archery, sorry, I gotta do it correct.

Archery.

All right, I'm out here with Daniel.

And you are the archery master, what would you call it?

- I'm one of the instructors that helps people shoot.

- Okay, so how far back does archery go?

- But is one of the earliest projectile weapons that was used in warfare and in just regular life.

People would use this for hunting skills, covering infantry, so you would have the range shot.

- Now, I haven't really shot before.

Last time I had one, I made it out of like a peach tree limb and some twine in my backyard in the country.

So you're gonna show me how to do this, right?

- Oh yeah.

- Okay.

Okay, so laid on like this?

- Yep.

- So like this?

All right.

I need to go back a little harder if I wanna get that one.

See if I can hit this pig here right up front.

(suspenseful music) Oh, I just missed it.

Oh, just missed its head.

Ah!

Yeah, one shot.

If not, we're not eating tonight, gang.

(suspenseful music) Ah, I missed it!

I suck.

(laughs) Well, tonight we're having beans, guys.

No pork, just the beans.

- Well, you know what they called the bad hunters, right?

- Gatherers?

- Vegetarians.

- (laughs) Yeah, there you go.

I might've spoken too soon.

Though it was short-lived, I think it's time to retire that bow and pick my sword back up, because archery, mm, obviously not my thing.

I'm gonna guess that guy brought his own bow.

But this guy, however, something tells me he's making all his shots.

(bright Scottish music) All in all, Fresno's Highland Games was an unforgettable experience.

10 outta 10 for me.

But next time I go, I might have to dress the part.

(bright Scottish music ending) Greek Fest, also known as California's Premier Greek festival is the largest Greek festival of its kind in all of California, hence, the name.

Established in Fresno in 1924 by Greek settlers, the Greek Orthodox church that this festival originated from, is celebrating its 100-year anniversary.

So you know it's gonna be a good one.

Now, there are many reasons one might come to the Greek Fest, the food, the pastries, the dancing.

We're here for all of that of course.

But, most importantly, we're here to uncover the history of one of the biggest Greek celebrations in all of California.

And, to do that, we've gotta find this man, Kopi Sotiropulos.

If you don't recognize him, he's a TV star, movie star, local TV host, and, most importantly, he is the expert at all things Greek Fest.

- Happy yourselves a great day.

- We're gonna keep our eyes peeled for him.

But, for now, let's meet some of the people that bring this festival to life.

All right, I'm here with Michael Osborne, the volunteer coordinator for the Greek Fest.

How many people does it take to make something like this happen?

- You know, the numbers are uncountable, to be honest, 'cause there's so much time.

We start prepping for this festival around the beginning of the year, so January volunteers start with the cooking.

We cook 30,000 pieces of baklava.

- Wow!

- And I don't know how many pounds of rice, and the lamb shanks, and dolmades.

And then, this weekend itself, we get about a thousand to 1,200 volunteers.

- Really?

- Throughout the weekend, yeah.

- [Roy] So a lot of people from the church too, I would imagine.

- A lot.

Yeah, basically the whole church community, and then some.

Yeah, you know, friends, family, we're all here.

- And this is the 100-year anniversary of the church?

- 100-year anniversary of the church.

The St. George Greek Orthodox Church, it's our 100th year anniversary.

And then, for the festival, it's our 62nd annual festival.

- So you only get like a couple months off to relax.

You got Christmas, but then like New Year's Day, it starts all over.

- More or less, yeah, yeah.

- That's cool.

- Yeah.

(gentle Greek music) So this festival started with literally a lamb being roasted in the backyard here.

- So one lamb?

- One lamb.

And then, it's grown, and grown, and grown, and grown.

- You got a lot more than one lamb going on today.

- We got a lot more than one lamb, yeah.

- It's hard to believe that all this started in a backyard, but sometimes the best traditions have the humblest roots.

Immediately entering the Greek Fest, you can't help but notice all the cool details.

The beautiful displays of Greek culture, and, of course, the church that started this all, St. George Greek Orthodox Church.

In the early 20th century, Greek immigrants arrived in Fresno forming the nucleus of the Greek community.

They established the church, which was officially incorporated in 1923.

And St. George's Church was built on Fresno Street in 1924.

This church was more than a piece of history or a place of worship.

It was truly breathtaking.

(gentle Greek music) (bright Greek music) So we've got an idea of what we're celebrating.

Now, I think it's time to get into the Greek spirit.

Opa!

For that, I'm gonna need some help.

Like my mom always told me, "If you wanna find out how a person thinks, you gotta find out how a person drinks."

Luckily, we ran into just that person.

I'm here with Nick.

I was trying to explain to my crew what Ouzo is.

Maybe you can clarify what Ouzo is.

- So Ouzo is basically a black licorice liquor.

Well, it's made with anise.

And so it's actually used in the same sense that they make brandy, but it's with the white grapes, and it's actually the waste from making wine.

- Right, and it tastes like black licorice.

- Yeah, they flavor it with the anise, and that's what gives it the black licorice taste, and it is super sweet.

It really sneaks up on you.

- But then that's a traditional Greek drink though.

- That is the Greek spirit.

So as what vodka is to Russians, Ouzo is for Greeks.

- So, like, for like my family, Natty Light.

- If you live out in Nebraska.

- There you go, thank you Nick.

- Yeah, definitely.

- Okay, Nick, I'm sold.

Even though I didn't come to the Greek Fest with the intent of trying Ouzo, it's clear that the people, the culture, and the shared experiences have a way of influencing even the most reluctant people into trying new things.

Unfortunately, though, I'm on the clock, so that Ouzo is just gonna have to wait until another day.

But maybe we can investigate it just a little more.

And this particular Ouzo is from Lesvos.

This is Ouzo Plomari.

This is my favorite.

It's a particularly variety.

So the best Ouzo comes from Lesvos, if you ask me.

- Now, why is that?

- 'Cause they make it there, they make it better there.

- They make it better there.

Now, some guy was saying that it's kind of like some leftovers and you mix it, and you throw this, you throw that.

- I don't claim to know.

- You don't claim to, okay, okay.

- If you have enough of it, you'll forget if you're knew before anyways.

- Okay, right.

(laughs) Okay, just one little shot's not gonna hurt.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Okay, are we ready?

Okay, what do you say?

- Stin ygeia mas.

- Stin ygeia mas.

What's that mean?

- To our health.

- To our health.

Stin ygeia mas!

Woo, yeah, there it is.

I think I'm starting to get the Fest Greek spirit.

The Greek Fest spirit now.

Woo, yeah!

Who would've thought a shot of Greek liquor was all it took?

That's strong, that's good.

- It's strong.

(gentle Greek music) All right, it's time to buckle down and find Kopi.

Luckily, wherever there's good food, good music, and good people, Kopi isn't far behind.

- Opa!

- Opa!

- It's good to see you, my friend.

- Great to be here.

It's nice to have you here at our festival.

- Man, I love it, you know I don't like to miss it.

You know more about this festival I think than anybody.

- Well, I've been around a few years.

- You've done a couple of these.

- Yeah.

- What's the whole history behind this?

- Well, it started out about 62 years ago as a fundraiser when this church was built.

- Okay.

- Okay, we moved over from the west side, we built a new church fundraiser, and it was just a little luncheon on a Sunday.

Grew the next year, grew the next year, and over 60 some years, it is probably the biggest festival of its kind in the Valley, from Bakersfield to Sacramento.

- [Roy] Right, and you have people coming from all over this thing.

- Oh, all over the place, that come from the North Valley to South Valley along the coast, Fairfield, from the mountains, everywhere.

It's a family event.

Games for the kids, all kinds of a-la-carte foods.

We've got dinners.

It's just food everywhere.

Live Greek music and dancing.

- Right.

- [Kopi] We have booths, food booths, obviously, the gyro sandwiches.

- [Roy] And now are you doing the dancing lessons this year?

- We have people that are going to professional dancers here in the Valley.

- You're not doing it?

- Well, they have a person that knows what they're doing.

- (laughs) Okay.

- I can give 'em my backyard dancing, opa!

You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- Opa!

There you go.

But I'll be dancing.

- You'll be dancing though?

- Yeah.

- Okay, you usually do.

- Well, I love it.

- Yeah.

- That's how I work off all the food I have all three days.

- I was gonna say, is that for all the baklava and all that?

- Oh man, baklava!

You've got the baklava, the melomakarona, you've got the kourabiedes, the sugar-powdered cookies.

- Yes.

- Oh man.

I mean, melomakarona, the syrup-soaked cookies.

- Yeah.

- It's so many pieces of pastry.

Plus, the dinners that we have.

Chicken dinner, lamb dinners, lamb shank, we've got the a-la-cartes, you get everything.

- The smells out here are amazing.

- Oh good, thank you.

(Roy laughing) Kopi, thank you for hanging out with us today, man.

Much appreciated.

- Yeah, our pleasure.

Thank you for coming out.

- Oh, you bet.

- Continued success, opa!

- Opa!

Speaking of the smells, not Kopi's, I mean the other smells, it would not be a successful Greek Fest if we didn't try the food.

On the way to do that though, I ran into what you might call a little bit of a hiccup.

Oh, he's gonna kick over my head?

- Yeah.

- Are you serious?

I thought he was the dance instructor.

Meet Dmitri, the actual dance instructor.

Right now I am terrified, because he's about to kick over my head.

(upbeat Greek music) Two things I learned about Dimitri.

One, if he says he's gonna kick over your head, you trust him.

And, two, he's a little overqualified for this dance instructor gig.

(gentle Greek music) Now, I'm not normally a lamb guy, but everyone was raving about the lamb shanks.

So I decided to step outta my comfort zone and into the barbecue section, and I am glad I did.

It was here that we stumbled upon some of the faces behind the food.

- Look at this caveman eating- (Roy laughing) - That's awesome.

- It doesn't get any better than this.

- No, that's the best, that's the best.

Look at that, right?

How long have you been cooking out here today?

- Oh, six o'clock.

- Six o'clock.

- Yeah, the Ice Man's only been here since six o'clock.

- Oh, okay, so why are you the Ice Man?

- 'Cause I cool everybody off.

- Oh!

Snap!

(both laughing) - When you got the lamb chop and a cup of special sauce, it doesn't get any better than that.

- Done.

- Right?

- It's done.

- Right.

- We're done, sounds amazing.

Smells amazing.

- It's amazing.

- Tastes amazing.

- Of course it does.

(Roy laughing) Nothing better than Greek Fest.

- At this point, I'm starving.

A little lamb doesn't sound half bad right about now.

All right, so what are you making out here today?

- Oh, we are making, this is the gyro meat that we use for the gyros.

It's a great pork-lamb mixture, seasoned to perfection.

- That smells amazing.

- Thank you.

- You wanna try a little piece?

- Oh, do I wanna try- - Do you wanna try a little piece?

- Of course, I wanna try a little piece of that.

- There you go, brother.

- Oh my god.

- It's hot though.

How about you?

You want one?

- Yeah, sure.

- Mm, oh my god, tastes like heaven.

Oh, that is amazing, dude.

What's the seasoning you put on this?

- So it's a little bit of oregano, salt, pepper, all sorts of good secret Greek spices.

- Oh, shh, secret.

- Shh.

- I don't know what it is, but it's amazing.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

Secret sauce, secret seasonings.

The only thing that's not a secret is how amazing this lamb is.

So tried the lamb, delicious.

But I couldn't help myself, I had to try one of those kebabs.

I mean, look at 'em.

Oh, and if you're wondering what they're spraying, that's lemon juice.

It's not battery acid or Roundup, just so you know.

(gentle Greek music) I thought I had good food before, but, man, never anything like this.

The tenderness of the meat, the sweetness of the sauce, the tang of the lemon juice.

Where's this been my whole life?

(gentle Greek music) Food this good shouldn't stand alone.

This deserves a dessert that can top off my culinary experience here at the Greek Fest.

There's tons of treats to choose from, but I think I found one that caught my eye.

(gentle Greek music) We're in the kitchen with Bill.

Bill, you're the chef, the top chef?

What are you exactly?

- So we kind of co-chair the booth here for loukoumades.

John and I have been probably doing this now for about 30 years plus.

- Wow.

- We lost count a long time ago.

- And how do you say it again?

- Loukoumades.

- Loukoumades.

- Correct.

- [Roy] Essentially, Loukoumades are kind of like donut holes, fried golden brown topped with a mixture of syrup, honey, cinnamon, and nuts.

Simple, yet effective, and completely delicious.

Is this like an old Greek recipe?

- It's an old-school Greek recipe.

- Like soup, like, goes way back?

- Way back.

- How many of these do you eat a year?

- Oh.

(Roy laughs) - That's the question.

- Well, you know, I have to quality control this stuff.

- Do you have to work out a lot?

- Does it look like I work out?

(both laughing) - [Roy] After giving these things a little taste test, I'm starting to think I might have chosen the wrong profession.

Best believe if I were back here making these loukoumades, not a single one of these would be making it to your plate.

I'd be the world's largest loukoumades salesman.

I mean, like, you know, size wise.

So what have we learned, people?

If you're coming to Greek Fest, expect to eat, a lot.

Expect to drink, expect to laugh.

Expect to love every minute of it.

Wait a minute, did I just basically say live, laugh, love?

Yikes.

Anyway, once that's all said and done, take a page out of Kopi's book and dance the night away.

I mean, how could you not?

Greek Fest wraps up at the end of the night in a glorious crescendo of traditional Greek music and dancing.

Or, in my case, maybe not so traditional dancing.

Go, Roy, go, Roy.

(upbeat Greek music ending) (audience cheering) (upbeat music) "Hitting the Road with Roy Sizemore" is made possible by Measure P, expanding access to arts and culture, and, of course, by viewers like you.

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(upbeat music) Become a member today to help keep the good times rolling.

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