About the Monterey Bay Pipe Band

The Monterey Bay Pipe Band (formerly Salinas Pipe Band) is a Grade IV competition band and a member of the Western US Pipe Band Association (WUSPBA).  The band wears the MacKenzie tartan and is under the direction of Pipe Major Michel d'Avenas.  Practice is held every Sunday from 10am to 1pm at York School.  The band includes students, soldiers, teachers, translators, retirees, computer programmers, a nurse, administrative assistants, a private investigator and a beekeeper.

Band History

The Salinas Pipe Band was formed in June 1988 by members of the 1st Salinas Valley Highlanders to provide a competitive venue for pipers and drummers living in the Monterey County area. The name was changed to the Monterey Bay Pipe Band in 2001 to better reflect the membership. The band has competed successfully throughout the Western United States and was the Western United States Pipe Band Association Grade 4 Champion in 2002. Its prize list also includes first places at the Pacific Basin Pipe Band Championships in Hawaii, the Tucson Highland Games, the United Scottish Society's Highland Games where we won the first Kevin R. Blandford Memorial Trophy for Grade 4 QMM in 2004, the Pacific Northwest Highland Games and Gathering, the San Francisco Invitational Pipe Band Championships, the Campbell Highland Games, the Sacramento Valley Highland Games, the Monterey Scottish and Irish Festival, the inaugural Desert Southwest Grade 4 Championship, which the band won in 2002; and most recently the band took third in the WUSPBA Championships held in Las Vegas in 2003.The band was also the first to win the Archie Craig Memorial Trophy, established in 1992 by the 53rd Street/Caber Feidh Pipe Band. Initially given to recognize the best Grade IV Pipe Band at the Caledonia Club Games in memory of a staunch supporter of Grade III and IV Pipe Bands, the trophy is now given to the best Grade IV drum section. The band's drum section won this award in 2000. The band also competed in the World Pipe Band Championships in 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2005 the band was upgraded to Grade III by the Western United States Pipe Band Association. For the upcoming 2008 season the band has elected to compete in Grade 4.