LETTER: Clan Gordon Pipe Band aged out of Rhody

Posted

Longing for a good parade to raise community participation and involvement is almost like rolling a rock uphill.

We’ve all been led into believing the parade must go on, only our community needs to step back and take a deep breath. Life as we know it is changing. Let me be clear, the stamina of this aging community is awesome, even with it ranking as the sixth-oldest county in the U.S. Our death rate outpaces the birth rate.

Every year our community had so generously donated toward the Clan Gordon Pipe Band, out of the Tacoma area. It was always such a delight to hear them two blocks away heading toward the area wherever any of us sat.

I am sorry to inform everyone that the pipe band has aged out of the ability to walk the route. Most retired, and the band is in the active process of practicing and re-creating the pipe band. The new members are not trained to perform yet. They do plan on returning for future parades, but much like many in our community, are aging out while hoping the young ones will step up to the stage and perform as well as those before them. That takes a discipline, dedication and, above all, a means for sponsors to come forward for them.

So, I thank everyone who has cosponsored the Clan Gordon Pipe Band in the past with your generosity. Next year, they will return, I imagine. I sure will miss them this year.

The Legion, The Palace Hotel, Waterfront Pizza, Waterstreet Hotel, the Uptown Pub and the Commander’s Beach House, I thank you for supporting the band.

Happy Rhody, everyone.

MARY HEWITT

Port Townsend