Contact P/M Rob Clower
(641) 990-6820
contact@turlachur.org

 
 

 
Once a year, the best beer and the best pipe band in Iowa cross paths on a chilly March night. On Saturday March 14th, Turlach Ur will pipe in St. Patrick's Day at the Newton and Pella locations of the one and only ... wait, that's two and only ... Cellar Peanut Pub. This incredible craft-beer tap room just won Best Craft Beer Bar in Iowa from CraftBeer.com and the National Brewers Association. This will be our fifth annual SPD performance for owners Marty and Betsy Duffy and all their loyal patrons.
 
Festivities start early in the day. Turlach Ur plays in Newton at 5:00 and 6:00, and then in Pella at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30. Iowa's Best Piping Iowa in Iowa's Best Pub. Enough said. 
 
 

Turlach Ur performed last night with the mighty Chieftains ... essentially the Rolling Stones of traditional Irish music.  Great to share the stage with this band during their year 58th year of world touring.  The backstage chillin' was fun too!

The Turlach Ur Pipe Band will perform with The Chieftains on March 4 at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City. The Chieftains, a traditional Irish folk group, tour world-wide and have won six Grammys. They last invited Turlach Ur to perform with them in 2012. Since its inception in 2007, Turlach Ur has won numerous prizes and titles, and now fields two competition bands. Its Grade 5 band comprises student players (shown here practicing late into a summer evening), and its Grade 3 band is one of the top competition bands in the Midwest. The Chieftains concert is nearly sold-out, but Turlach Ur fans can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the band at the Newton and Pella locations of the Cellar Peanut Pub on Saturday March 14. For more information, contact the Grinnell Area Arts Council at 641-236-3203 or Rob Clower at 641-990-6820.

It's been a long, busy winter for Turlach Ur, all about preparing for a big 2019 competition and performance schedule. The band gave some of the new competition music a test run at the Cellar Peanut Pub's big St. Patrick's Day celebration. 

On Saturday June 1, Turlach Ur will play its new sets in earnest at its first competition as a Grade 3 band when we take the field at the Milwaukee Highland Games. A bigger and better TU Grade 5 band will be there too, setting out on its first full season! Many of our players are entered in the solo competitions too. Come up for the day and cheer!

Next up after Milwaukee will be the big Midwest Championships in Chicago on June 15. Turlach Ur won the Grade 4 contest there last year (see video), and we hope to hold our own in the much tougher Grade 3 category. We'll face bands from Chicago, Denver, Cleveland, and the Twin Cities. Our Grade 5 band will compete in a field of 11 bands, also mostly big city organizations. All together, 35 bands will take part, making this the largest pipe band competition in the country.

Turlach Ur's competition season will conclude with the Minnesota Highland Games on Saturday July 20 in Egan, Minnesota. Plenty of time to plan ahead for this one. so we'll see you there!

Closer to home, don't miss Turlach Ur at its Thursday Music in the Park concert right here in Grinnell on July 11. Spend the evening relaxing in Central Park listening to one of the top pipe bands in the Midwest. We'll play you our competition sets and lots more, including fun music you might not expect from a bagpipe band!

Turlach Ur's Grade 4 band won each of the four events it entered in 2018, completing a two-year undefeated streak since its 2017 promotion to Grade 4. This year's wins were enough to secure the MWPBA's Champion Supreme title for most aggregate points across the season, which the band also won following its 2015 Grade 5 campaign.

The MWPBA announced Turlach Ur's promotion to Grade 3 at its November 3 annual meeting. Absent further regrades before the 2019 season begins, the band will be one of only five Grade 3 bands in the 14-state region governed by the MWPBA.

Our soloists had successful seasons as well. Andy Christie was runner-up in the season aggregate standings in both Grade 3 light music and Grade 3 piobaireachd, and has been upgraded to Grade 2 in light music. Matthew Turley wrapped up his season tied for third in the aggregate standings. Grade 5 lead tip Nathan VanderLeest was the 2018 MWPBA Champion Supreme in Grade 4 snare and has been upgraded to Grade 3.

The band’s 10th rendition of its popular fall concert officially introduced the Grade 5 band to Turlach Ur’s many local fans, and also featured a superb guest artist, harpist Laurel Tuggle Lacina. The big blue barn on the Tuggle Lacina farm was warm and toasty for the show. That’s because Turlach Ur is, we suspect, the only pipe band in the country with an equipment inventory that includes 288,000 BTUs worth of propane heaters. (TU piper and professional firefighter Jed Petersen approved the set-up.)

On September 1, Turlach Ur's brand-new Grade 5 band stepped to the line in Waukesha, Wisconsin, under the leadership of P/M David Clower. Of the band's 11 members, nine were first-timers and eight of those were between the ages of 10 and 13. After a slightly rocky few bars approaching the circle, the band settled in for a nicely-controlled performance and managed an excellent cut-off (see video). Spirits were high and 2019 anticipation keen.

At the Minnesota Highland Games, one of the few MWPBA events to feature two Grade 4 events, Turlach Ur won both the medley (1,2,1,1) and the MSR (1,1,1,1). Enjoy the video recordings of our winning Medley and MSR performances.

In a packed Grade 4 field of 12 bands, Turlach Ur defended its title (1,1,2,2) as Midwest Champions at the Chicago Highland Games on June 16. It was the first spin for the retooled medley (see video). This year, the event was the largest pipe band contest in the U.S., making it a triumph for the MWPBA as well. Furthermore, with bands from both coasts and Canada in attendance, MWPBA bands won three of the six events contested.

  1. Winning Streak Continues at First Event of 2018