Reminder – Special Olympics Opening Ceremony Practice Tonight, May 15, 2018 at 6:30

This is just a reminder of the special band practice to be held at the Scottish Rite this evening at 6:30pm. We will be going over all of the details for the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony tomorrow night and practicing for the event, so if you plan on attending, please try to come to the practice.

At this point, we will only be playing the 4/4 set, so we could use all of the pipers we can get!

Hope to see you all this evening!

Special Band Practice May 15, 2018

In preparation for our participation in the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics on the evening of May 16, 2018 (additional details in the event posting preceding this notice), we will be having a special band practice this coming Tuesday evening, May 15, 2018 at 6:30pm at the Scottish Rite.

If you are planning to participate in the ceremonies, please be present at the practice Tuesday night.

Thanks!

Special Olympics Opening Ceremony May 16, 2018

The Great Falls Shrine Pipe Band will be participating in the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony at the 4-Seasons Arena on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, at 6:00pm.

There will be a final meeting next week, prior to our practice, to determine the exact details of the event, but the following is the tentative schedule and flow.

6:00pm – Band arrives and stages (location to be determined next week, but somewhere around the 4-Seasons)
7:00pm – Opening Ceremonies Start with parade of athletes (64 teams will be at the opening)
8:15pm – Final song before LE Torch Run arrives – Band will need to be ready to play and staged at the south entrance at this time.
– The band will be introduced, and we will then play down the center aisle to the stage at the north end of the arena (4/4 set)
– They will introduce the LE Torch Run, and then they will come running in to AC/DC
(So at this point, we don’t have to play while they all come in)
– The cauldron is lit
– We then play ourselves out (3/4 set)
8:30pm – Ceremony ends

While this is a large and challenging event to keep things on schedule, they are going to do everything in their power to keep things on track and on time.

The uniform for the day will be spats, diced hose, kilt, horse hair sporran, belt, white shirt and Glen Garry. If you don’t happen to have something in this list, please wear what you have.

We will be having a special practice to go over the final details and prepare for this event next Tuesday evening, so please plan on attending the practice if you intend to play at the opening ceremony.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2018 – Band will not participate

Due to the low temperatures, 33 is the forecasted high with a possibility of snow, and the high possibility of icy roads, the band has decided not to participate in this years parade. We regret to have to have made this decision, but the safety of our instruments and members comes first. We hope next year’s weather is better and we look forward to continuing our participation in this fun event in the future.

For anyone who would still like to watch the parade, it will start on Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 1pm and follow the usual route through downtown Great Falls.