E. Division Pipe Band heading for Vernon to get “tattooed”

This is normally the time of the year when many (non-competitive) pipers and drummers are packing away their instruments, grabbing their umbrella’s and coolers and heading to the beach for some R&R. After months of practice, the spring and early summer months bring the highland games, parades and performances with the latter part of summer a time to take a break. Not so, for the RCMP E.Division Pipe Band.

This upcoming weekend, the band is making the five hour trek to the interior to participate in the Okanagan Military Tattoo. Now most people who read this blog are likely familiar with a military musical tattoo. So, for the uninitiated … a musical tattoo is a demonstration of military drumming, piping and skills. It’s called a ‘tattoo’ because when the British Army was fighting in Belgium 300 years ago, soldiers were called in from the pubs each night for curfew, or Doe den tap toe, Dutch for ‘Turn off the tap’.

There is of course the granddaddy of tattoo’s, the famous Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo each year in Scotland. Nova Scotia hosts its own Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in July, and this year, the Okanagan Military Tattoo will be added to that list. Hundreds of dancers, musicians, pipers and drummers will participate in the inaugural Okanagan tattoo at Vernon’s Kal Tire Centre. Performances are scheduled for Friday evening, August 1 and Saturday afternoon, August 2. Other pipe bands participating in the tattoo include the Kalamalka Pipe Band and the Aaron Campbell Memoiral Pipe Band. The Royal Canadian Artillery Band has already arrived and has been practising at Silver Star Mountain, one of the major sponsors of the event. For a complete list of other performers, click here. For further information and/or to buy tickets, please click here. 

Here is the schedule for the weekend and location:

Friday, August 1, 2014 7 PM. Doors open at 5:30 PM

Saturday, August 2, 2014 Matinee. Doors open 12:30 with show at 2 PM.

Kal Tire Place
3445 43rd Avenue
Vernon, BC