Palmer Shonk felt right at home Saturday as he joined fellow pipers to play skirling march tunes on the main field of the Ligonier Highland Games.
Shonk, of Avalon, led an ad hoc band of 12 bagpipe players and six drummers in competition in the 64th games at Idlewild and Soak Zone in Ligonier Township.
Now 36, the Ligonier native first was exposed to his chosen instrument as a kid, when he came to the local annual showcase of Scottish competitive and cultural activities.
“I heard the pipes, and I begged my parents to find me a teacher,” he said. “I started playing when I was 10.”
Now, when he isn’t playing the bagpipes, Shonk teaches the skill to others at Baldwin High School and the College of Wooster in Ohio.
He also teachers members of the Macdonald Pipe Band of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Firefighters Memorial Pipe Band — units that joined forces this year to form the Avalon and District Pipe Band, strictly for competitive events like the Ligonier games.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to get out and compete with this combined band,” said Betsy McFarland of Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, pipe major of the Macdonald band. “Covid did a number on both of our bands. We haven’t had a chance to compete for several years.”
Playing in unison and with expression are among the qualities the judges listened for in Saturday’s pipe band competition.
But, at noon, all five of the attending pipe bands took the field to play en masse.
“It’s fun time to play in a large group,” said Shonk. “Most crowds are very appreciative. They like to hear what pipe bands play. They don’t often get to hear it.”
“I love hearing the bands,” said Brian Buchanan of Apollo. “My grandfather absolutely hated bagpipes, but I like it.”
Buchanan sported a kilt displaying the tartan design of the same-named Scottish clan, a plaid mosaic of hues including red, yellow and green. He gathered with several dozen others in similar-colored attire to march behind their clan banner in the Ligonier games’ midday parade.
“I’ve been coming to Ligonier for about 10 years,” he said. “We’ve been having more and more (Buchanan clan members) participating in the parade.”
The Celtic musical strains heard from nearly every corner of the games also were a highlight for Gordon Reid of Peters Township, a native of Scotland and president of the Pittsburgh-based Clan Donald Educational and Charitable Trust that organizes the volunteer-run event as a fundraiser.
“I’ve missed, maybe, one or two,” he said of the annual games, which began as a Scottish picnic at Kennywood Park and moved to Idlewild in 1973.
Reid’s son, Alan, also of Peters Township, was on hand Saturday.
“I help corral the children’s tug-of-war, which is general chaos most times,” he said.
Family and friends were on hand to root for older lads and lassies competing in several heavy athletic events.
Though he didn’t match his personal best of more than 57 feet, Kelton Mehls, 32, of Bethel Park, won the “light weight” distance event in his division — hurling a weight of nearly 30 pounds for 55 feet.
“It’s my best event,” said Mehls, who teaches strength and conditioning at Duquesne University, lifts weights, operates a Mt. Lebanon gym and has coached track and field.
Though he can’t claim a clan affiliation, Mehls began taking part informally in Highland sports when he threw the hammer and discuss with the track and field team at Robert Morris University.
“We used to do this as off-season training for fun,” he said.
Mehls has been competing formally in Highland games for three years, but fun continues to be the main attraction.
“It’s fun to get out here and be with the same people and make friends doing something that we all enjoy,” he said. “You see a lot of the same guys and girls at the same competitions. There’s a group in the South Park area that trains together.
“We have fun with it, but we all like to win.”
It was his partial Celtic ethnicity that inspired Latrobe resident Erik Brammell to travel the short distance east to compete in the Ligonier games’ heavy athletics. Saturday was his second competition in the event since learning about it when he purchased a kilt at a local shop.
“It’s partially from my heritage, and I enjoy athletics,” said Brammell, 35. “I enjoy the camaraderie with a lot of these guys.
“Once you start, you get kind of addicted to it.”
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter
