The games, once again, were tremendously popular. Between 2,000 
     
     and 3,000 people gathered for the contest in a huge field hired from one 
     
     John Williams (Government House Grounds were not available). At 
     
     twenty-five cents for admission, it was a grand day’s entertainment, 
     
     topped by a record throw of 180 feet in the heavy (16 pound) hammer 
     
     competition by R.R. MacLennan of Ontario.20 
     
    

    
     The club’s format was altered somewhat in 1866 with the holding of 
     
     an Anniversary Dinner on 4 April at Masonic Hall. The hall was par- 
     
     ticularly beautiful, the Haggis especially tasty, the wines excellent, the 
     
     atmosphere convivial. One of the guests, Thomas Kelly, spoke ad- 
     
     miringly of “the ‘flow of soul’ and hospitality” characteristic of the Scot 
     
     and thanked the Caledonian Club members for “the handsome and 
     
     sumptuous nature of the entertainment. ”2' 
     
    

    
     This “flow of soul” and generous nature so evident thus far in the 
     
     Caledonian Club’s progress opened new avenues of goodwill that 
     
     summer after a fire swept through Charlottetown on 15 July destroying 
     
     one hundred houses and stores (including the offices of Ross’s Weekly) 
     
     and leaving thirty families destitute. The Highland Games that year were 
     
     set for the 15 August. On the 30 July, the club stated in its usual notice 
     
     that the gathering’s net proceeds would go to the fire relief fund.22 On 
     
     the 13 August, the Examiner reported that the fund, under the direction 
     
     of the Caledonian Club, received an eighty-dollar donation from the 
     
     Highland Society of Antigonish, Nova Scotia.“ 
     
    

    
     Because of the losses caused by the 1866 fire, the Club decided to 
     
     forgo holding the games for a number of years, until the city of 
     
     Charlottetown was able to rebuild itself.“ In the meantime, the club 
     
     continued to give assistance to the relief fund, to hold various meetings 
     
     throughout each year, and to provide its own forms of entertainment in 
     
    

    
     (the shape of small soirees and the annual St. Andrew’s Day dinners. In 
     
     1871, the society was honored with an invitation to attend, as special 
     
     guests, a national festival and sports gathering held on St. Dunstan’s 
     
     College grounds sponsored by the Benevolent Irish Society.25 
     
    

    
     In 1875, the Highland Games were resumed with renewed en- 
     
     thusiasm. The price of admission had risen to two dollars a couple, but 
     
     there were few other changes. The return of the games was evidently well 
     
     hailed by all; there were approximately 5,000 people in attendance.26 The 
     
     report issued by the Patriot cited some reasons for such public en- 
     
     thusiasm over the event. The reporter wrote: “the Sons of the 
     
     Heather...turned out to show that they are proud of the land of their 
     
     birth, and that Scotland is dear to them still.” This pride, he said, was 
     
    
   
   
    
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