Scottish Festival Weekend
By John Swartz
Orillia was the home of what Ripley’s Believe It Or Not might have called the world’s tallest freestanding drum major. James ‘Tiny’ Small, Jean Sarjeant’s father, was the drum major of the 48th Highlanders in World War II, he was with the same unit as a drummer in World War I and once he was the subject of a Ripley’s newspaper cartoon because, with his bearskin hat on, he was over 7 feet tall.
While the 48th Highlanders pipe band was here on the weekend, and their drum major is tall, one couldn’t help but notice the tiny, as in real tiny, drum major of the Blackdown Cadets intermediate band. Hayley Poon is in the third week of a summer long program at the Blackdown Cadet Training Centre at Base Borden. She’s from Toronto and a member of the 110 Black Hawk Air Cadets. She lead one of two bands from the cadet training program. Watch the video to meet her.
The afternoon was perfect for listening to pipe bands in Couchiching Beach Park. One could take them in at once during the Mass Band performance to open and close the festival, or wait until a band did a turn in the pub.
Enjoy photos and video of the day.
(Photos and Video by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
