The band ventured to Lehi, Utah to participate in the 38th Annual Utah Scottish Festival & Highland Games over the weekend of June 9th. Some of the band flew but most of the drummers, and a couple of pipers whose sanity must surely be questioned made the trip in a caravan of two vehicles.

The conditions were very challenging because, even though the day started of with beautiful weather, after the opening mass bands, the wind came up and provided an environment that the pipers and drummers would be glad to never experience again. The wind during the band contest was 30-35 mph constant with gusts of 50-60 mph. Pity the poor judges who had to stand out there in the driving wind all day long.

Not only did the band survive this challenge, the band excelled. In the Quick March Medley contest the band competed against 9 bands and came away with 3rd place finish. In the Time Limit Medley, the band placed 2nd out of 8 bands. The band played competition sets which had been extensively reworked, with 2 new tunes in each set. The drum corps had an especially good weekend. Before the wind got bad, the drummers competed in their very first drum salute competition, and came away in 2nd place of 4 units. The drummers also took first place in both band events. This was the first contest ever for tenor drummer Jessica, whose fiance Greg also made his competitive debut with the band in the drum salute competition.

The results were especially gratifying because the band competed with only 6 pipers, against bands with 10, 12, and 14 pipers. We are glad for the success we had, but obviously since we did not finish in first place there is much room for improvement. The band will be working to add some more pipers, and improve our performance at the next contest at the Colorado Irish Festival on July 15th at Clement Park in Littleton, Colorado.