SLIDESHOW:
Highland Games & Celtic Festival.
Bob Rose made his first visit to the Meadow Highland Games & Celtic Festival a memorable one.
Goaded by friends and family, Rose good-naturedly volunteered to have a ferret placed down his pants to demonstrate the ancient sport of ferret legging.
Twice yesterday afternoon, a ferret was placed down Rose's sweatpants, only to pop its head out of the elastic waistband. Rose took it in stride, yet the finicky ferret refused to remain still. The third time was the charm when the ferret was placed down the rear of his pants.
"At which point, I think the ferret kind of gave up and fell asleep at my ankle," said Rose, who works for Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. "It was just lying there and I was trying to dance to wake it up, but I got nothing."
According to Kevin Robertson, the rules of ferret legging are simple -- contestants don't have to be sober, but the ferrets do; the ferret has to have claws and teeth; and the person with the ferret down their pants does so without underwear.
"I was a little nervous that the ferret was going to use me as a scratching post," Rose said.
Rose and the ferret escaped the experience unscathed, yet the affable Rose wouldn't commit to trying it again.
There was a flurry of activity during the second and final day of the 15th annual Highland Games & Celtic Festival at the Meadow Event Park in Caroline County. Music from bagpipes and Celtic bands filled the air. Sheepdogs demonstrated what they were bred to do -- corral sheep.
People could learn to throw axes or taste-test Scotch whisky, after a brief lesson by Scotch master Hal Clary on the history of the spirit distilled in Scotland.
Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation of Richmond was adopting puppies at the main entrance to the annual festival. While inside the grounds, the Richmond Ferret Rescue League aimed to draw attention to their cause with the ferret-legging demonstrations.
Marlene Blackburn, director of the ferret rescue league, said the organization has more than 100 ferrets -- a four-legged mammal that is a close relative to the polecat -- available for adoption.
Blackburn said there has been an increase in abandoned or relinquished ferrets this year because of the economy. People are losing their jobs and homes, becoming unable to care for their ferrets, she said.
Ferret legging "is a way to introduce and educate the public about ferrets," Blackburn said.
It was an eye-opening experience for Rose.
"It definitely made for a more interesting Sunday than the average Sunday, that's for sure," he said.
Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or jslayton@timesdispatch.com.
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