Parks and Wreck
by Charlotte Skipper
Every day, City of Winter Springs employees Nick Richards and Ken Miller spend hours working diligently to keep Central Winds Park in tip-top shape.
But for one weekend out of the year, both men take part in destroying the park’s fields – throwing stones, tree logs, and heavy weights alongside other athletes at the Central Florida Scottish Highland Games.
For 48 years, the games have been a home for Scottish clans to perform, compete, revel in each others’ company, and eat Scottish delicacies right here in Central Florida. Among the weekend’s fan-favorite events are the athletic contests, and that’s where Nick and Ken let their competitive spirits run free.
Nick, a city maintenance worker for five years, began competing in the games six years ago, along with his wife Nicole. Ken has worked for the city for 10 years and is the parks foreman.
When Nick and Nicole heard Ken talking about the games on several occasions, they put his name on the novice competitors’ roster before he could protest. Three years later, Ken and Nick compete in an amateur category in Scottish Highland Games across the state.
“Ken had shown a little interest, so Nicole and I basically just told him, ‘We’re going to sign you up because we know you’d be amazing at this,’” says Nick. “As a coach, it’s been amazing to watch him rise from not knowing anything, to helping him come up to my level, and now even surpassing me.”
Games People Play
At the Central Florida games, athletes compete in nine events, from the open stone put (where participants must throw a stone weighing 16 to 22 pounds) to the popular caber toss (where the goal is to flip a tree log and land it at the 12:00 position on a clock face).
To the unfamiliar spectator, it may look like the athletes on the field are out for blood in their quest to dominate the competition. But both Ken and Nick say the contests are always more about brotherhood, as they encourage each other to reach their best scores and laugh off their mistakes. Ken, who played collegiate football and rugby, says being part of the Highland Games has filled a void in his life.
“I’ve had an ‘I’m going to introduce you to the ground’ type of competitive energy my whole life, and it was a good outlet for me,” says Ken. “When I graduated college, that completely stopped, and I had nothing for awhile. Starting the games gave me that competitive spirit back, but in an encouraging way where I had something to strive for just within myself.”
Since Nick began competing, he has discovered more about his Scottish heritage. Although he is interested in his family roots, Nick feels more drawn to the camaraderie everyone experiences during the contests – regardless of whether they have any ties to Scotland.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re not of the same heritage,” says Nick. “We just want people to get out there. We really want to include more people who don’t know how to throw to come out and learn and enjoy the fun with us.”
At the 2026 Central Florida games, Nick ranked 10th and Ken ranked 2nd overall in their category of 16 competitors. And after a nearly 12-hour day of creating divots in the Central Winds Park fields, the two men got up the next morning, put on their City of Winter Springs uniforms, and started patching up the grass like they always do.
“It is kind of counterproductive, because we work so hard to make the fields look good, just so they can be destroyed,” says Ken. “But at least we get to say now that we’re a part of the destruction. That way we don’t feel so bad about fixing it.”