The Chicago Stock Yard Kilty Band (one of the oldest
continuous pipe bands in the United States of America) was
formed in 1921 by brothers Robert and James Sim. The Sim
brothers came from a piping family in Aberdeen,
Scotland where their father made bagpipes. Both served in
World War I (Bob with the 4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders and
Jim, who enlisted at 13, with the Royal Engineers Pipe Band and
later with the 51st Highland Division).
After coming to Chicago, Bob joined the Canadian Kilties
Pipe Band, which has since gone out of existence. In 1921
Bob decided to form his own pipe band and after obtaining
uniforms from ex-servicemen of the British Legion he and his
brother organized the British Legion Pipe Band.
In
1925 the Chicago Stockyard American Legion Post #333 was
organized and was looking for a musical unit. The band
became affiliated with the Stockyard Post in 1926 and changed
its name to the Chicago Stock Yard Kilty Band.
Hairbangers Ball (www.hairbangersball.com)
and the Stockyard Kilty Band (www.sykb.com)
rock out to ACDC's "It's a Long Way
to the Top". Pipers: Mike Gribbon,
Doug Dow, and Matt Mckee.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Chicago Games
Congratulations to Mike Gribbon on bringing home
a 1st place in Grade 1 solo piping at the 2008
Chicago Highland Games! The band took the
field and ranked 4th out of 12 bands. See
some wonderful photos from the games
here.
A YouTube video of the performance can be seen
below.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Winning isn't everything...
The
band survived another year in Alma competing,
partying and performing. Though we didn't
bring home the gold, silver or bronze -- we did
bring back some fond memories and are geared up
for the LaGrange pet parade and Milwaukee
competition. See you on the road or see
some pictures from Alma
here.
Monday, April 7, 2008
and the winner is...
Well
done to the boys and girls of the Stockyard
Kilty band at this past weekends MWPBA
mini-bands contest. The band placed
first in Medley and third is QMM.
The drummers of course took top score in both
events... Photos from the event can be
seen on our FLICKR account
here.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
SYKB on -- MySpace
Thanks to Joseph Kerzich, John Quinn and all
others who have provided pictures and content
for the band's brand new MySpace page. Be
sure to check out our MySpace account @
http://www.myspace.com/sykb as we continue
to add friends, multimedia and more. Check
out the logo to the right >>
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Digital Documentation
The
band has created a new SYKB account on
flickr.com/photos/sykb/
to share all of our pictures. With the help of
Joe Kerzich and Gavin Quinn, they split the
yearly fee to upgrade it for unlimited downloads
instead of our previous free 100 mb a month. If
you would like to to request the username so you
can upload photosemail
chicagostockyardkiltyband@comcast.net
and we assist. This will help us to
continue to digitally document the 85+ years of
SYKB history and to help display all of
our pictures to our family, friends, and the
World!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Band, Stand Easy...
Thank you to all the members of the Yards for
their hard work and diligence during a very
long, cold and exhaustive St. Patrick's Day
season. The band rounded out the Paddy
Parades with the Downtown Chicago parade on
Saturday, Match 15th. The annual after
party was held at Union Park - check out
some photos of the hoopla
here.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
At Rest
The band would like to extend our condolences to
bass drummer Tom Costello - on the loss of his
father. You and your family are in our
thoughts and prayers Tom.
Francis M.
Costello, age 83, Ret. C.P.D., Army Vet. WWII, beloved
husband of the late Marian D., nee Zwarycz; loving father of
Marybeth Kennedy, Kathleen, Kevin and Thomas, C.P.D. (Karen)
Costello; dear brother of Eleanor (William, Ret. C.P.D.)
Murphy, the late William (Betty) and the late Robert
(Shirley) Costello; fond brother-in-law of Irene (Edward)
Judd, Michael (Esther) Zwarycz, Gerry Zwarycz,
W. Richard
(the late Margaret) Janiczek, the late Jane M. (the late
Frank) Nagel, the late Sophie (the late Stanley) Sandusky
and the late Josephine Zwarycz; proud grandpa of Patrick
(Leigh) Kennedy, Thomas Jr. and Mary Clare Costello; fond
uncle and great-uncle of many nieces and nephews; will be
missed by many, especially Buddy and Gus.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Is it over yet?!
Four down...one to go - St. Patrick's Day
Parades that is. THANKS AGAIN to all the
band members for their participation in three
parades this past weekend. The band split
up on Saturday to tackle two parades - St.
Charles and Lemont. On Sunday the band
joined together to once again lead the 30th
Annual South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day
parade. Some photos from the South Side
parade can be seen
here. One parade left...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Let the madness begin
One down...five to go - St. Patrick's Day
Parades that is. Thank you to all the band
members who braved the cold to play the pipes
and drums as well as carry the flags for the
Manhattan, Illinois St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Check out some photos courtesy
of
John Quinnhere.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wedding Bells
Two band members have scheduled weddings before
the close of 2007. Congratulations to Bass
Drummer Terry McCabe who weds on December
29th and Drum Corporal Brian Conry who
weds on December 22nd. Terry,
Brian...learn some lessons from Dave McKee, Sr.
on how to make a marriage last forever...
Saturday, November 3, 2007
86th Annual
Tartan Ball
Thank you to everyone who came out to support
the Stockyards at our 86th Annual Tartan Ball!!!
I didn't get a harrumph out him...
Photos from the event (courtesy of Joseph
Kerzich) can be seen
here.
THIS ONE IS IN
THE BAG
This one's in the
bag - Dave and Kitty McKee were brought together
thanks to bagpipe lessons; named winners in
'Meant to Be' series.
Bagpipes play mournful renditions
of "Amazing Grace," they line the streets at the South Side
Irish Parade. Rarely are they the instrument of choice for
a strolling musician at a romantic, candlelit dinner. But
for Kitty Kirk and Dave McKee, bagpipes helped start a love
story that is still going strong 40 years later. READ MORE HERE.
Fore archived news and more information please visit our "news"
section
here
Sam-I-AmSays...
In
many of our Friday night practices, I have been
observing our members looking for the most interesting
people to write about. I slowly started to notice
a few things about our fearless leader: Pipe Major
Matt McKee. Being the bass drummer allows me to see the
marching style of our pipers. I have noticed that Matt tends to
swing his feet out far in front of him when he marches and I couldn’t
think of where he had learned this style of marching. Also, in
several of my conversations with the fearless leader (I have also noticed
his great insistence of calling him “Fearless Leader”) he would refer to
the good ole’ days when he was involved in the “party.” What
party? The halfway to St. Patty’s Day party? I didn’t get
it. Time for some world travel.
This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called 2008 Downtown Parade. Make your own badge here.
click the flickr logo for search results
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Who took
these photos?
Most of
the photos contained within this website are moments
captured by Jane Hasty. Jane is no stranger to
the pipe band community; her husband Tim has played
with the likes of Black 47, the Dropkick Murphy's as
well as the Chicago Emerald Society Pipe Band.
Check out Jane's Scrapbook
here.
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