GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — You could hear the sounds of bagpipes and drums from outside Jackson Street Hall on Thursday night, as the Muskegon Regional Police Pipes and Drums band held a practice.
"Bag pipes are loud, but at the same time they’re fun and they move the spirit. They touch your heart," said Gerry Dibble, who is a founding member of the group and its pipe major.
"We became a band in 2002 in Muskegon County. Chief Tony Kleibecker at the time said he wanted pipe band. He’d heard the 87th Cleveland Pipe Band in Ohio and said we could have pipe band here."
Eight pipers and a couple of drummers formed the band that year. They are one of only two police service pipe bands in Michigan with the only other one being the Detroit Metro Police and Fire Pipes and Drums.
"When we started out, we didn’t sound like we do today. It’s amazing the work that everyone put in," Dibble said.
In 2017 and 2018 the band was selected to perform in Washington DC for National Police Week.
"The biggest part of that was we were chosen out of 23 pipe bands to play at the Capitol for the actual survivors and the president’s message at that time for Police Memorial Day itself so that was really nice," Dibble said.
Three of the band's drummers went to a world competition as part of the Windsor Police Pipe Band in the 1980s.
"We’ve got probably the best drummers in Michigan right now," Dibble said.
The Street Performers event in Muskegon will be held Friday, August 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. There will be 40 performers along West Western Avenue. The pipes and drums will be playing near the farmers market.
The band is also planning on performing in Washington DC again and will hold a fundraiser to help make that happen in the fall.
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