The Lander Pipe Band traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in the 2026 Vegas Celtic Festival on April 18, and for the first time, the members competed with two bands. The beginners in the band are part of the Grade 5 Band. There were eleven performers in the Grade 5 Band. The intermediate members competed as part of the Grade 4 Band with nine members. When they headed home from Las Vegas, they had earned a whopping fourteen medals.
The Pipe Major for the Grade 5 Band is Piper Bailey. She is eleven years old and was one of the youngest Pipe Majors attending. She earned one first-place medal and one second-place medal for her solos. In addition, the judges awarded her the Rising Piper Award. The Rising Piper is the Jeffrey Mann Memorial Award that is given to the piper who shows the greatest promise.
Another piper, Kyle Lehto, won fifth place for his solo. Numerous other members of the Grade 5 Band brought home medals as well. Elli Tschida won a first-place medal for a snare drum solo, and Elena Tsentas won first place for a tenor drum solo. Another drummer, Clementine Coffmann, won third and sixth place for her solo tenor drum performances.
In the Grade 4 Band, led by Pipe Major and Band Director Melissa Bautz, Betha Olsson won first and third place medals for her solo piping performances, along with Maggie Lasnoski, who won a third-place medal for her solo. Andy Bautz won two first-place medals for his bass drum solos, and Philomena Olsson won two first-place medals in Grade 3 for her snare drum solos.
The Grade 4 Band earned third place in the piping competition, but overall, neither band placed in the top three. However, the members still consider it a very successful trip.
According to Ms. Bautz, because all competitors had a chance to compete in a large contest, they gained experience, and they learned what to work on for the next contest in Salt Lake City at the Utah Scottish Festival & Highland Games, June 12-14. Ms. Bautz also noted that because the band placed high in the solo competitions, it shows that the talent is present and that the band just needs to practice more as a group.
You can watch videos of the band’s performances here and here.
Additional information about Lander Pipe Band can be found on the band’s website.
The Lander Pipe Band is a non-profit organization focusing on traditional Scottish pipe and drums based in Lander, WY. There are forty-eight members and the band is comprised of seventy percent youth and thirty percent adults. The band performed over seventy times in 2025 with about thirty percent of those performances for veterans and first responders.
The above information and pictures were provided to County 10 by James Bailey.