Quittapahilla Highlanders at Eicher

Stop by Ephrata Borough’s Grater Park on Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. to hear the stirring sounds of bagpipers and drummers playing Scottish music when the Quittapahilla Highlanders perform. The band will be wearing uniforms inspired by the traditional uniforms of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The concert will be held rain or shine. Weather permitting, the band will perform outside the Eicher Arts Center at 407 Cocalico St., in the park, near Cocalico Creek. The public is urged to bring folding chairs. Admission is free. Donations to the non-profit Eicher Arts Center, Inc. will be accepted. Refreshments will be provided.

The Highlanders got their start about 25 years ago in the Annville area. In the Scottish highlands, bands often took their name from a nearby body of water. The Quittapahilla Highlanders took theirs from Quittapahilla Creek in Lebanon County. According to the band, quittapahilla is a word Native Americans used that means “stream that comes out of the ground under pines.”

The Black Watch has a long and distinguished history as a unit of the British military, with its bands a noteworthy part of that history. In 1963 nine Black Watch bagpipers came to the United States to play music at the funeral procession for President John F. Kennedy.

For more information, call Eicher at 717-738-3084.