“Piping Out” Returns to Rehoboth Beach!
More than 60 people turned out early Monday evening to help the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society revive an old town tradition, the piping-out musical boardwalk parade!
Revelers with various musical instruments assembled on the boardwalk at the Henlopen Hotel and marched down the boardwalk to Rehoboth Avenue led by Nick Nichols, bandleader and trombonist.
Although records are ambiguous, a RBHS news release points out that the “piping out” tradition was thought to have originated in the mid-to-late-1950’s by the late-bandleader Sammy Ferro whose orchestra played for dances held at the old Henlopen Hotel. At the last dance of the summer on Labor Day, Ferro would take his band “to the boards,” followed by his audience, and then lead a spontaneous musical parade to Rehoboth Avenue.
Photos courtesy David Koster, PortraitsInTheSand.com
