Inveraray & District reigns at 58-band 2026 Chicago Highland Games

Wheaton, Illinois – June 13, 2026 – Fifty-eight bands competed in the five grades at the 2026 Chicago Scottish Festival at a hot and sunny DuPage County Fairgrounds, where reigning World Champions Inveraray & District won both Grade 1 events, with 16 firsts from the eight-judge panels, against St. Thomas Alumni from Houston.

Inveraray & District elected to compete in Chicago instead of attending the UK Championships in Belfast. The band performed concerts on Thursday and Friday nights before the games.

Philadelphia Ulster Scottish were the overall winners of the six-band Grade 2 competition.

The closest contest of the day was Grade 3, where Commonwealth of  Massachusetts won the aggregate title despite finishing fourth in the Medley competition. Strong results in the MSR were enough to hold off Macalester College and Prince Charles. The Medley event was won by New York Metro, which also earned Best Drum Corps honours.

In Grade 4, Sean McGonigal Memorial won the Medley, while 87th Cleveland was first in drumming and was awarded the Bass Section prize, and Grade 5 honours went to City of St. Augustine.

Thunderstorms hit the Chicago area on June 12th, cancelling and delaying many flights into O’Hare International Airport, forcing numerous band members and judges to make alternate plans to attend the competition. But the weather for the Saturday contests was warm, sunny and breezy.

The event has emerged as North America’s largest pipe band competition by number of entries.

Grade 1
Overall
1st Inveraray & District
2nd St. Thomas Alumni
Drumming: Inveraray & District
Bass Section: Inveraray & District

Medley
1st Inveraray & District (1,1,1,1 / 1,1 / 1,1)
2nd St. Thomas Alumni (2,2,2,2 / 2,2 / 2,2)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Alex MacIntyre, David Hilder, Andrew Carlisle (piping); Gordon Parkes, Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall, Terry Lee (ensemble)

MSR
1st Inveraray & District (1,1,1,1 / 1,1 / 1,1)
2nd St. Thomas Alumni (2,2,2,2 / 2,2 / 2,2)
Judges: Richard Parkes, David Hilder, Shaunna Hilder, Andrew Carlisle (piping); Gordon Parkes, Duncan Millar (drumming); Alex MacIntyre, Terry Lee (ensemble)

Grade 2
Overall
1st Philadelphia Ulster Scottish
2nd MacMillan
3rd Great Lakes
4th Dominion
5th Wasatch & District
6th Midlothian Scottish
Drumming: Philadelphia Ulster Scottish
Bass Section: Philadelphia Ulster Scottish

Medley
1st Philadelphia Ulster Scottish (1,1,1,1 / 1,1 / 1,1)
2nd MacMillan (2,3,2,3 / 3,3 / 2,2)
3rd Great Lakes (4,5,4,5 / 2,2 / 4,4)
4th Wasatch & District (5,4,5,4 / 4,4 / 3,3)
5th Dominion (3,2,3,2 / 6,6 / 6,5)
6th Midlothian Scottish (6,6,6,6 / 5,5 / 5,6)
Judges: Richard Parkes, David Hilder, Shaunna Hilder, Andrew Carlisle (piping); Gordon Parkes, Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall, Terry Lee (ensemble)

MSR
1st Philadelphia Ulster Scottish (1,2,2,1 / 1,1 / 1,1)
2nd MacMillan (2,1,1,2 / 2,3 / 2,2)
3rd Great Lakes (4,3,3,4 / 3,2 / 3,5)
4th Dominion (3,4,4,3 / 6,5 / 4,4)
5th Wasatch & District (5,5,5,5 / 4,4 / 5,3)
6th Midlothian Scottish (6,6,6,6 / 5,6 / 6,6)
Judges: Richard Parkes, David Hilder, Terry Lee, Andrew Carlisle (piping); Gordon Parkes, Duncan Millar; Ensemble (drumming); Alex MacIntyre, Bob Worrall (ensemble)

Grade 3
Overall
1st Commonwealth
2nd Macalester College
3rd Prince Charles
4th New York Metro
5th City of Angels
6th Wake & District
7th Kevin R. Blandford Memorial
8th Portland Metro
9th Phoenix
10th Queen City
11th Roisin Dubh Irish
12th Turlach Ur
13th Chicago Celtic
Drumming: New York Metro
Bass Section: Macalester College

Medley
1st New York Metro (1,1,1,1 / 2,1 / 4,4)
2nd Macalester College (3,3,2,4 / 3,3 / 2,1)
3rd Prince Charles (2,4,3,3 / 1,4 / 1,3)
4th Commonwealth (4,2,4,2 / 4,2 / 3,2)
5th City of Angels (5,5,5,5 / 5,8 / 8,8)
6th Wake & District (8,6,9,9 / 7,5 / 5,9)
7th Kevin R. Blandford Memorial (9,9,10,6 / 6,7 / 7,5)
8th Portland Metro (6,7,7,7 / 10,11 / 6,7)
9th Phoenix (11,8,6,8 / 8,9 / 11,6)
10th Queen City (7,11,8,11 / 11,6 / 9,10)
11th Roisin Dubh Irish (10,10,12,10 / 9,10 / 10,11)
12th Turlach Ur (12,12,11,12 / 13,13 / 12,12)
13th Chicago Celtic (13,13,13,13 / 12,12 / 13,13)
Judges: David Hilder, Shaunna Hilder, Terry Lee, Andrew Carlisle (piping); Gordon Parkes, Duncan Millar (drumming); Alex MacIntyre, Bob Worrall (ensemble)

MSR
1st Commonwealth (1,1,1,1 / 4,3 / 4,1)
2nd Macalester College (2,4,4,2 / 2,2 / 2,4)
3rd Prince Charles (3,3,3,3 / 3,4 / 3,3)
4th New York Metro (4,6,6,5 / 1,1 / 1,8)
5th City of Angels (5,8,8,4 / 7,7 / 6,2)
6th Wake & District (10,5,5,7 / 6,5 / 5,5)
7th Kevin R. Blandford Memorial (6,2,2,9 / 9,10 / 12,7)
8th Portland Metro (9,7,7,6 / 10,9 / 7,6)
9th Queen City (8,10,12,10 / 5,6 / 8,10)
10th Phoenix (7,9,9,8 / 8,11 / 9,9)
11th Roisin Dubh Irish (11,11,11,11 / 11,8 / 11,11)
12th Turlach Ur (12,12,10,13 / 12,12 / 10,12)
13th Chicago Celtic (13,13,13,12 / 13,13 / 13,13)
Judges: Richard Parkes, David Hilder, Shaunna Hilder, Andrew Carlisle (piping); Gordon Parkes, Duncan Millar (drumming); Alex MacIntyre, Bob Worrall (ensemble)

Grade 4 (Medley)
1st Sean McGonigal Memorial (4,5,2,1)
2nd Bergen Irish (3,2,11,3)
3rd 87th Cleveland (7,8,1,7)
4th Capital City  (2,1,6,14)
5th Kansas City St. Andrew  (5,9,8,4)
6th Roisin Dubh Irish (1,3,18,5)
7th Twin Cities Metro (8,6,3,16)
8th City of St. Augustine (6,4,15,9)
9th Michigan Scottish  (10,12,14,2)
10th Dundee Scottish (12,7,10,10)
11th Silver Thistle (16,13,5,11)
12th Madison  (15,11,7,12)
13th Cincinnati Caledonian (17,19,4,6)
14th Cabar Feidh (9,17,12,8)
15th Red Sky Collective  (13,16,9,13)
16th Macalester College (14,14,13,17)
17th Nashville  (11,10,20,18)
18th Caledonia Kilty (19,18,16,15)
19th Chicago Stock Yard Kilty Band (18,15,17,19)
20th Pikes Peak Highlanders  (20,20,19,20)
Judges: Bob Worrall, David Hilder (piping); Duncan Millar (drumming); Terry Lee (ensemble)
Drumming: 87th Cleveland
Bass Section: 87th Cleveland

Grade 5 (Quickmarch Medley)
1st City of St. Augustine (1,1,1,1)
2nd Minnesota  (3,4,3,3)
3rd Roisin Dubh Irish (2,2,7,9)
4th Grand Traverse  (10,9,2,2)
5th Turlach Ur (7,8,6,5)
6th 87th Cleveland (8,11,5,4)
7th Blackwell & District  (4,5,12,8)
8th Colorado Youth (6,6,10,10)
9th Celtic Cross  (15,13,4,6)
10th Celtic Nations  (13,7,9,11)
11th St. Louis Caledonian (5,3,17,17)
12th James Enright Sr. Memorial (16,15,8,7)
13th Chicago Highlanders  (9,10,14,13)
14th Louisville (12,12,11,12)
15th Charleston (11,16,15,14)
16th City of Rockford (14,14,13,16)
17th Celtic Eagle (17,17,16,15)
Judges: Richard Parkes, David Hilder (piping); Gordon Parkes (drumming); Alex MacIntyre (ensemble)
Drumming: City of St. Augustine
Bass Section: City of St. Augustine

A correction was made on June 14, 2026: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Inveraray & District’s concerts were on Friday and Saturday. They were, of course, on Thursday and Friday, and the article was amended accordingly.