Ulster Scottish gains 15 of 16 firsts to win Grade 2 at 2025 Chicago Highland Games

Wheaton, Illinois – June 14, 2025 – Ulster Scottish from Philadelphia was the top winner at the 2025 Chicago Highland Games, the Midwest Pipe Band Association’s largest sanctioned event of the year, and one of the biggest pipe band competitions by the number of contestants outside of the United Kingdom. Thirty-nine bands competed in sunny weather at DuPage County Fairgrounds.

St. Thomas Alumni journeyed from Houston but were the only Grade 1 entry. No bands from north of the border participated, probably due mainly to the economic and political dispute between the United States and Canada.

The competition takes the unusual tack of fielding eight judges per all the Grade 1, 2 and 3 events – four piping and two each for drumming and ensemble.

Grade 1 (one played in Medley and MSR)
St. Thomas Alumni

Grade 2 (five competed)
Overall
1st Ulster Scottish
2nd MacMillan
3rd Great Lakes
4th Midlothian Scottish
5th Greater Midwest
Drumming: Ulster Scottish

Medley
1st Ulster Scottish (1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)
2nd MacMillan (2,2,2,2,3,5,2,2)
3rd Great Lakes (4,3,3,4,2,2,3,3)
4th Midlothian Scottish (3,4,4,3,5,4,4,4)
5th Greater Midwest (5,5,5,5,4,3,5,5)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Steve MacNeil, Sean Somers, Alex MacIntyre (piping); David Brown, Duncan Millar (drumming); Terry Lee, Bob Worrall (ensemble)

MSR
1st Ulster Scottish (1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1)
2nd MacMillan (2,2,1,2,3,3,2,2
3rd Great Lakes (3,3,3,3,2,2,4,3
4th Greater Midwest (5,5,4,5,4,4,3,4)
5th Midlothian Scottish (4,4,5,4,5,5,5,5)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Steve MacNeil, Terry Lee, Sean Somers (piping); David Brown, Duncan Millar (drumming); John Elliott, Alex MacIntyre (ensemble)

Grade 3
Overall
1st Carnegie Mellon University
2nd Macalester College
3rd Wake & District
4th City of Angels
5th Westminster
6th Kevin R. Blandford Memorial
7th City of Chicago
8th Turlach Ur
9th Chicago Celtic

Medley
1st Carnegie Mellon University (1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)
2nd Macalester College (2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2)
3rd City of Angels (6,4,5,4,3,3,5,8)
4th Westminster (3,5,3,3,7,7,6,5)
5th Kevin R. Blandford Memorial (4,3,4,5,5,5,7,7)
6th Wake & District (5,6,6,6,6,6,3,3)
7th City of Chicago (7,8,7,7,4,4,4,4)
8th Turlach Ur (8,7,8,8,8,8,8,6)
9th Chicago Celtic (9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9)
Judges: Richard Parkes, Steve MacNeil, John Elliott, Sean Somers (piping); David Brown, Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall, Alex MacIntyre (ensemble)

MSR
1st Carnegie Mellon University (1,1,1,1,3,2,1,1)
2nd Macalester College (2,2,2,2,1,1,2,2)
3rd Wake & District (6,5,5,7,5,4,3,3)
4th City of Angels (7,4,7,4,4,5,6,4)
5th Kevin R. Blandford Memorial (3,8,4,5,6,7,7,5)
6th Westminster (4,6,6,3,7,6,5,8)
7th City of Chicago (8,7,8,8,2,3,4,6)
8th Turlach Ur (5,3,3,6,8,9,8,7)
9th Chicago Celtic (9,9,9,9,9,8,9,9)
Judges: Alex MacIntyre, Steve MacNeil, John Elliott, Sean Somers (piping); David Brown, Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall, Terry Lee (ensemble

Grade 4 (Medley)
1st Siren City (1,1,7,2)
2nd Kansas City St. Andrew (2,2,3,5)
3rd Chicago Stock Yard Kilty (3,3,2,6)
4th 87th Cleveland (5,7,1,4)
5th Capital City (4,4,10,3)
6th Bergen Irish (9,9,4,1)
7th Loch Norman (6,5,5,7)
8th Caledonia Kilty (8,6,6,11)
9th Dundee Scottish (7,8,9,9)
10th Madison (10,11,8,8)
11th Silver Thistle (11,10,11,10)
Judges: Alex MacIntyre, Richard Parkes (piping); David Brown (drumming); Bob Worrall (ensemble)

Grade 5 (March Medley)
1st Macalester College (Gr5) (3,2,1,1)
2nd 87th Cleveland (2,3,5,4)
3rd Grand Traverse (5,5,2,3)
4th Nashville (6,9,3,2)
5th City of Rockford (4,4,6,8)
6th Firefighters Highland Guard of Naperville,1,1,12,9)
7th Chicago Highlanders (8,8,4,7)
8th Omaha (9,6,11,5)
9th Flint Scottish (7,7,7,11)
10th Chicago Stock Yard Kilty (11,12,8,6)
11th James Enright, Sr. Memorial (12,11,9,10)
12th Celtic Cross (10,10,10,12)
Judges: Terry Lee, Sean Somers (piping); Duncan Millar (drumming); John Elliott (ensemble)