Metro Cup Weekend cancelled

The annual Metro Cup Weekend in Newark, New Jersey, which has been held every year for decades, has been completely called off due to the coronavirus surge in the United States making indoor in-person gatherings not allowed. The event had been scheduled for February 12-13.

The Metro Cup Weekend is organized by the New York Metro Branch of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association, and the event had expanded from being a contest for top-flight solo pipers, to encompassing both professional and amateur competitions and workshops for pipers and drummers.

In the 2000s, the organizers worked to partner with area pipe bands that would sponsor a prominent piper usually from the UK or Canada to travel to the event, and conduct a workshop with the band after the solo competition. The move converted the Metro Cup to be one of the top international solo competitions in the world, with the organizers describing the event as “America’s only Premier Invitational Competition.”

“This decision was not made lightly and brings us to a critical moment in the history of the Metro Cup,” organizers Matt Wood and Elaine Eltringham said in a statement. “Several years ago, we came to the community with a plea to help us keep this event alive by your attendance, participation, and donations. The pipe and drum community rose to the occasion and saved the Metro Cup from becoming a memory.”

They cited a “significant drop” in support for the event mainly because of the pandemic. They put out a plea for donations to facilitate the return of the Metro Cup, hoping to raise at least US$20,000.

Nick Hudson of Houston was the Professional Solo Piping winner of the 2020 Metro Cup held last February 15th. It was the most recent piping and drumming event in the Northern Hemisphere held for an in-person audience.

In 2019 the event started to host qualifying competitions for the World Solo Drumming Championship and the Silver Medal piobaireachd contests at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting in Scotland.

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