By Jake Stolzenbach
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Reporter
Nights are normally quiet at Pine Grove Middle School, when only the staff are left. But every Thursday night—when the Baltimore City Pipe Band practices—the unmistakable music of Scottish bagpipes and drums thunders through the hallways, rattling rows of green lockers.
“The Bagpipes are more of an outdoor instrument.” Ed McFarland, Pipe Major, said. “They were taken into battles.”
The pipe band is preparing for Baltimore’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, one of the biggest days of the year. Founded in 1966, the band has marched in the parade for over 50 years.
“We try to preserve the history of bagpipe bands and their music,” McFarland said.
This is the 64th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Baltimore, a city tradition since 1956.
Spectators line the city’s mile-and-a-half route, beginning at the Washington Monument and finishing at the Inner Harbor near Market Street. The parade begins at 2 p.m. and will generally take participants about two hours to complete the course. To prepare, the band has to practice the music—and practice marching.
“It’s difficult,” said Bill Carver, a piper. “The pipes are easier to play in a circle because you’re not thinking about keeping your timing and your spacing and keeping the left foot down with the drum beat.”
In addition to the Baltimore City Pipe Band, several local high school marching bands will join the festivities. In all the parade will feature 14 bands, a dozen local Irish social organizations and a handful of Irish dance schools, in addition to Boy and Girl Scouts, car and Jeep clubs, animal rescue groups, stilt walkers and historical organizations, said Sean Hackett, vice president of St. Patrick Celebrations, the non-profit corporation that organizes the parade.
To accommodate the 80 groups and organizations in the parade this year, planning and fundraising begins months in advance.
“There is an entry fee, and there are advertising costs to be in the program for the club,” said Rick Herbig, president of the Emerald Isle Club of Baltimore. “We start planning for the parade around December.”
The Emerald Isle Club of Baltimore is an Irish-American club with a goal to promote and maintain Irish customs and heritage. The club expects to have 50 people march in the parade. For many, it’s a yearly commitment.
“I have marched numerous times, probably 20 times,” Herbig said. “Everybody loves a parade. It’s very enjoyable.”
The benchmark for the parade is high, and parade marchers make an effort to look their best. Club members wear sashes in Irish colors of orange, white, and green. They also carry banners for St. Patrick along with Irish and U.S. flags. Members of the pipe band will wear their best uniforms—which can take as long as 40 minutes to don and adjust.
But the opportunity to gain attention from the public makes the effort worth it.
“When the weather is good, we can expect about 30,000 spectators,” Hackett said.
The parade takes a lot of planning to accommodate that many. Permits need to be approved, and streets need to be cleared. Yet year after year, the parade showcases Irish culture and heritage for all residents.
“It’s said, ‘Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day’, and so they are,” Hackett said. “We welcome one and all to celebrate with us and be ‘Irish for a day.”’