It's a concert 100 years in the making.
The Guelph Pipe Band will celebrate its centennial birthday with a special performance at the River Run Centre this Saturday night.
"It's a mix of excitement and nerves," pipe major Tyler Bridge said.
The pipe band started in 1922, thanks to funds raised by the local legion's ladies auxiliary. It has competed in a number of pipe band championships, highland games in Scotland and locales across Canada and the United States.
"The band has changed a lot since its inception in 1922, but it (has) always been the Guelph Pipe Band," Bridge said. "It's always been in continuous operation, it's always had community involvement."
They still compete, minus a brief hiatus in the late 1980's to early 1990's when the focus shifted more toward community events, parades, teaching youth and developing younger players.
The band spans generations, including Bridge's father John, a snare drummer who's been in the band since 1973. He and fellow band veteran and former pipe major Bruce Anderson — who joined 50 years ago in 1972 — have built a lifelong friendship through their participation.
"Fifty years, out of 100, I've been part of this organization," Anderson said. "Plus, I had the experience of meeting some members who were just in right after the start up of the band."
"We've been to all sorts of places with the band," John added. "It's certainly changed our lives, that's for sure."
Both John and Anderson have collected plenty of hardware over the years, years where they've seen membership grow exponentially from about a dozen to the 65 to 70 members today.
They'll also have some hardware to defend a week following the concert.
The Grade 3 band won a North American championship at the Glengarry Highland Games in 2019, but haven't been able to defend it due to the pandemic.
"When you win the North American championships, it's like winning the Stanley Cup at your level," John said.
The thought of this Saturday's celebratory concert came as the band struggled through the pandemic.
Bridge said the concert idea "was a big motivator" for many in the three bands that make up the Guelph Pipe Band – two of them competitive – over the last couple years.
"I think we saw that where a lot of pipe bands in Ontario took a hiatus, we were working on new stuff and keeping everybody connected and motivated," Bridge said. "The concert, for us, is kind of the fruits of our labour over the last three years, where it's been pretty tough to get together and play together at the same time.
"We're really excited to be back doing that again."
They'll be playing alongside the Celtic folk group Steel City Rovers and pianist Mika McCairly.
The Pipe Sergeant of the Grade 3 band Dylan Whittemore started playing with the band in 2017.
"I feel it's pretty prestigious, and I'm happy to be part of it," he said. "I also feel really proud that throughout the last couple years, we were able to keep things going cause it's not just 100 years of the band, but 100 consecutive years of being actively playing in the Guelph area."
For Whittmore, bagpipes started as a hobby but became a lifestyle for the 29-year-old, who has now been playing for 20 years.
"It's one of those instruments you either love it or you hate it, and I'm one of those people who love it," he said.
"It's the only kind of band where you have 30 members, but they're all playing exactly the same thing. It's an instrument that doesn't change in volume, so the only way to add dynamics is by manipulating the music slightly with the support from the drum core.
"It's a very challenging thing to put it all together, and when we're able to do that, it's the best feeling in the world."
Whittmore and company return to Maxville, outside Ottawa, for July 29-30 to defend their Grade 3 North American championship.
But first, it's the big centennial concert.
"A hundred years of the band is no mean feat," Tyler said. "So we definitely want to celebrate it in style."
The concert begins at 8 p.m. Saturday.
You can visit the River Run Centre website for tickets.
