As the Trail Pipe Band celebrates 100 years of bringing Scottish culture and tradition to the city, so comes a must-see-and-hear showcase of eight pipe bands coming to town for a “Spring Fling” next Saturday, May 4.
The Spring Fling will start at 9:30 a.m. at the corner of Eldorado Street and Bay Avenue in downtown Trail, with the Trail Pipe Band and eight visiting bands marching individually along the Esplanade to the Riverfront Centre.
“Each band is going to march down the street one at a time, and after that’s been completed and they’ve all been judged on their dress and deportment, then we have a mass band where we all march down the street together,” explains Will Bain, pipe major for the Trail Pipe Band.
Performances are slated to start at 11:30 a.m. on the Esplanade, with the plan being a dress/deportment and medley competition.
Besides Trail, Spring Fling bands hail from Nelson, Grand Forks, Shuswap, Kamloops, Kimberley, Summerland, Kelowna, and Kalamalka.
After the day performances will be a cèilidh in the Trail Memorial Centre, with each band performing a dance and funny skit.
(Pronounced kay-lee, a cèilidh is a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering.)
Tickets, $40, are required for the dinner.
For more information and to check ticket availability, visit the Trail Pipe Band’s Facebook page.
Bain became pipe band major after the untimely passing of long-time major J. Gordon Titsworth on Dec. 3, 2021.
Titsworth began teaching Bain the bagpipes many years ago, never charging for the lessons.
Carrying the tradition forward, Bain says there are free lessons held for pipers every Wednesday night at the Masonic Hall.
Students of the bagpipes start as young as seven years of age, though several adults are also taking lessons.
As well, there are free drumming lessons every Monday night at the Armoury in Shaver’s Bench.
The Trail Pipe Band has played continuously under this name since the 1920’s when William McCleary of Nelson came to work at the foundry in the CM&S (now Teck Trail) central shops and congregated pipers and drummers from a variety of local bands to play together.
Playing in parades wearing personal gear of a mixture of kilts and trews; the first official uniform was white pants with a tartan stripe down the pant leg.
As the head of the foundry, Pipe Major McLeary had the original plaid broaches cast and finished in the shops.
In 1942, the band was measured, and purchased the pattern they wear today, modeled after the uniform of the Scots Guards: Royal Stuart tartan kilts and plaids; with green tunics for the pipers and red tunics for the drummers.
The band adopted feather bonnets in the early 1960’s for use with the formal uniform; and continued to use the Glengarry with a cock feather for the warm days of summer when they wear the white cotton shirts and ties.
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