Part One: Someone Always Has To Pay The Piper Or The Scooper

                        

I've been running the roads (as we like to say, in the area where I live). This weekend was a special weekend in the small town where @knarly327 and I are originally from. We currently live 5 hours by car, away from this little town so we don't visit that frequently.

We made this particular trip because we were "called home for the gathering of the clans and the bands." 

Our small town is called Kincardine and it's a VERY SCOTTISH town. Our family is Irish and we're probably the only Irish family from there, but that's never stopped us from celebrating (arm in arm) with our kin-folk. Any chance we got really...because we're Irish and well, that's what we do.

                            

This weekend was dedicated to the 26th annual gathering of 8 Bagpipe bands, a Concert band and one Big band. The festivities started at noon and were "supposed to" conclude at midnight, but who's kidding who?

It went until the last piper fell

That's customary, anyway.

We left our house before dawn and arrived just as the first pipes were being warmed up. It was a gorgeous day. The town is located on the shores of one of Canada's Great lakes called, Lake Huron. It's a massive freshwater lake and its waters are the most vibrant shade of cobalt blue on a sunny, summer's day.

                          

I was standing at the "Queen's Look-out" when I took this shot. The look-out point is on the main street of the town which sits at a much higher elevation than the shoreline.              

                        

This photo is looking up river to the south. The river divides the town into a south side and a north side. You can see the colour difference between the river and the lake.

From here, I happily skipped across the street to listen to one of the bands that was playing in the park on the town's band-stand. (This is a very large "old" wooden structure that can hold a lot of people. It's round in shape, is open to the air and has a roof. It offers shade from the sun and protection from rain. It's very functional and well used. On this day, it was holding a huge Brass Band from Toronto who were playing Swing music from the late 40's, early 50's era, when I arrived.)

                       

The festivities had only really been underway for about an hour at this point, but the clans were starting to gather. You can identify a clan (or in this case, which band a piper is piping for) by how they are dressed and by the pattern and colour of the kilt that's being worn.

                        

                         

You'll noticed the subtle differences in dress between these two men. They're sporting their clan's or band's respective "tartans". The width of the stripes in the kilts, the colours used in the weave, the socks, and the shirts are all used to identify which clan or band a person belongs to.  Clan tartans can also be used to identify a person's last name. The most common Scottish last names have a registered tartan that's assigned to them. If you're from clan MacDonald and you wanted a kilt made for you, the wool used to weave the kilt would be woven in the registered MacDonald tartan pattern and in the official colours that have been assigned to the MacDonald family.  It's like a family logo.  

Don't Let The Old Man Fool You

He came to win with his carefully applied "ready-for-battle" make-up. (Later that night, after he piped, he drank many, a much younger man under the table. Socializing with alcohol is considered a sport in these parts and is sort of an unwritten, natural custom tied to this particular festival.)

Within the hour, the park was packed with people enjoying the Big Band music which was accompanied by 5 different vocalists.

                                   The tents you can see in the background are food and bar tents.

Ah, let's look at this recipe, shall we? We're mixing sun, music, food and copious amounts of alcohol for hours on end. Then people went home to eat supper and happily returned for round two.

The Parading Started At 8 pm

I'm not joking. Every Saturday night, starting with the first Saturday in May until the last Saturday in August, my home town, all of her residents and any visitors get dragged downtown to "parade" which is really the code word for "drink out of residence" and socialize with everyone and their uncle.  The parade is lead by our town's Bagpipe band. They pipe and march down the street that's lined on both sides with people as far as your eye can see.

                       

This usually involves hundreds of people attending every Saturday night, but this evening being the gathering of the bands meant even larger crowds.

                      

This young father and his wee laddie were scrambling to find their places. Kilts in matching tartans were flying as they quickly scurried as fast as the little one's legs would carry him.

                       

Here comes the Pipers! In step and in perfect time. There are 8 individual Bagpipe bands from the surrounding towns participating in the parade tonight.

     

It is a sight to see, hear and feel. 

                       

Then, all the people join the parade and follow the Pipers for 2 blocks down the main street. Once at the other end of town, there is a 30 minute intermission for all the Pipers to catch their breath and then they turn around and parade back down the street. It's great fun but it does takes some work logistically to orchestrate the movement of the crowd up and down the street.

(You'll notice a few different tartans represented in the swinging kilts that you can see in this photo.)

During "Piper Intermission" we (along with half the town) decided to buy ice cream while we waited for the second half of the parade to start.

Neither one of us had to pay a Piper but we did have to pay the Ice Cream Scooper for the best ice cream ever!

To acknowledge the obvious effort and the extensive elbow grease that this little lassie was exerting, we tipped her well.

In Part Two of the "Gathering of the Clans", I'll share a video or two of the parade and all the Pipers a pipping to kick off the "after parade party".

(The party went on, into the wee hours of the night. Well, at least, until someone paid the last piper standing to STOP). 

I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...sometimes there will be parading. ;)

~ Rebecca Ryan