Athletes, performers to come together for Celtic festival, Highland games in Ringgold

Fifty athletes from eight states will gather in Ringgold, Ga., Saturday to compete in impressive feats of strength, accuracy and endurance.

They'll pitch 56-pound Braemar stones vying for the longest distance. They'll attempt to lift and flip a 21-foot, 130-pound tree with their bare hands in the caber toss. They'll jab three-prong pitchforks into burlap bags packed with rope in their efforts to toss the bags higher into the air than the sheaf toss's record 341/2 feet.

And all the athletes will wear kilts.

Scottish, Irish and Appalachian clans will converge on Ringgold Municipal Recreation Facility on Saturday and Sunday for the Appalachian Celtic Festival and Ringgold Highland Games.

Read More. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)