The City of Chicago Pipe Band was established in the summer of 2003 and began immediately performing as such throughout the greater metropolitan area. The Band’s first competitive season was 2004 in Grade 3 and was promoted in 2007 to Grade 2. The Band continued to do well and were promoted in 2012 to Grade 1.
A training band was started in 2008 which began in Grade 5. This group went on to be promoted to Grade 4 in 2010 and promoted again to Grade 3 in 2013 under the name Chicago Scots Pipe Band. Though the flagship Grade 1 group became dormant in early 2013, the Chicago Scots Pipe Band continued, and another training band was launched in Grade 4 under the Chicago Academy of Piping and Drumming name, both active in the 2016 competition season.
In the fall of 2016, we ignited a unified flame and once again presented the City of Chicago Pipe Band as a single organization including the flagship Grade 3 band, the development Grade 4 band, and our Academy training program. We have claimed both the 2019 Mid-America Championship and 2019 United States Championship titles in Grade 3. We also made the band’s first two trips in our history to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and achieved a ranking of 8th in Grade 3A for 2019.
During the global pandemic beginning in early 2020, the entire organization moved toward using virtual meetings to keep ourselves on a path forward. Our youth program held classes to actively build new musicians toward a bright future. Our bands held online sectionals before cautiously returning to traditional rehearsals in the late spring of 2021.
On May 12, 2021, our flagship band was promoted to Grade 2 by the Midwest Pipe Band Association. This was a welcome and exciting challenge as we make our way back to the competition fields in the year to come! We had a successful competitive reboot at the only contest offered in 2021 over Labor Day Weekend in Wisconsin. During the first full season back, our bands accrued an impressive list of championship titles throughout the summer adding up to recognition as the MWPBA Champions Supreme – “Best in the Midwest” – in both Grade 2 and Grade 4.
In 2023, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary as a band and continue looking forward to a bright future together!
Patrick Lynch, president
Steve Moore, vice president
Michael Forkan, secretary