Area musicians will hold College Park’s first-ever Pipers Retreat from Jan. 16–18 at the Old Parish House on Knox Road.
The retreat will bring together small-pipe players to learn and play traditional folk songs as a group. Smallpipes, like Northumbrian and Scottish, are smaller and quieter than their better-known cousin, the bagpipes, so they can be played indoors with other instruments.
“One of the best things about these weekends is building the community,” said Christian Crowley, a Northumbrian smallpipes player who lives in the District and is one of the event’s organizers.
“It’s just great to have that community of other people that you can just sit down and start playing tunes with.”
Bob Mitchell of Laurel, another event organizer, has played the bagpipes since he was 9 years old. He was introduced to the smallpipes by Hamish Moore, a celebrity in the world of traditional Scottish music. Mitchell holds sessions for smallpipers in his home, sometimes accompanied by string instruments like the fiddle or the cello.
“We’re not based on competition,” said Mitchell. “We’re more interested in getting our instruments to speak to each other.”
The 20 or so musicians who attend the retreat will host a concert with folk dancing for the public on the evening of Jan. 16.
In addition to playing in group music sessions throughout the weekend, the pipers will participate in a Sunday morning brunch and a birding walk at Lake Artemesia Natural Area at Lakeland.
The retreat was inspired by the Squeeze the Bag festival, a long-time pipers weekend in West Virginia. When festival runner Joanie Blanton retired from organizing the retreats last year, Mitchell and Crowley wanted to keep the spirit of the weekend alive with the College Park event.
“We started to think, ‘How can we continue this tradition?’” Crowley said. “Because it’s been so nurturing for so many people who love this music and want to play this music, that we thought it would be great to build on that tradition and just keep the community going.”
Registration for the event is open online at tinyURL.com/2026PipersRetreat.