Toronto Indoor Games return March 30th after four-year hiatus

After an absence since 2019, the memorable Toronto Indoor Games will finally return on March 30th at its familiar downtown Toronto location at Moss Park Armoury.

The event’s staging was interrupted by the two-year pandemic crisis and various logistical issues, but the 2024 edition promises to provide a full slate of solo piping and drumming, quartet and full band competitions.

Each solo event is $15 to enter, quartets are $25, and each pipe band event is $50. Only the Grade 1 and Grade 2 band categories offer two separate events.

The Toronto Branch of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario manages the competition. It will be run under PPBSO rules, but the event has experimented with new formats, including, in 2019, having bands compete in a concert formation.

Organizers report that for events that normally require multiple tune or selection submissions, competitors can simply play their own choice of content.

Organizers also report that for events that normally require multiple tune or selection submissions, competitors can simply play their own choice of content. The leniency is due to the short notice for the event and because they’re nice people.

The Toronto Indoors have existed since the 1960s and were once a celebrated event where bands debuted their new material. A majorly memorable performance at the Toronto Indoor was the first airing of the City of Toronto Pipe Band’s “Desperate Battle” medley in 1977, which was wildly innovative then.

The PPBSO Toronto Branch website is currently inaccessible, but you can get the entry form here, complete it, and send it back by email. Entry payments can be sent to the same email address via e-transfer.

The previously announced PPBSO Drumming Summit will also be held during the Toronto Indoor Games.