Piper on a Porch | The Grand Porch Party

A piper and a porch. Not a bad combination if I do say so myself!

The piper was Andrew and the porch was part of the Grand Porch Party (GPP), a block party of sorts that’s been happening annually in a residential part of uptown Waterloo for the past five years.

This year, more than 30 musicians took to the “stage” on more than 20 porches. Over the course of the afternoon, the audience wandered through the neighbourhood, from porch to porch, stopping to enjoy each of the shows. This year’s crowd should be called a dedicated group, having braved the morning rain showers to come and enjoy the shows.

Before taking up residence on his Menno Street porch, Andrew was tasked with kicking off the GPP, marching from the merch tent at the corner of Dunbar Rd and Alexandra Ave down the block to his porch. I imagine the organizers thought the sound of the bagpipes would carry for miles and signal to those in the area that the party had begun. I suspect Andrew attracted a few extra audience members who were curious to know who was playing the bagpipes on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

After Andrew had played his allotted half hour set, we were to join the audience and catch a few of the other musicians, including the talented Royal City Ukulele Ensemble, the indie-folk group Wooden Bridge, and Dan Walsh, a fellow Cambridge Live Music performer.

While he didn’t make it into the print version, the Waterloo Region Record’s online article about the Grand Porch Party includes a photo of Andrew performing.

— Emily