'We want to make who we represent proud'

Nassau County Firefighters Pipes and Drums head to inauguration

Posted

As members of the Nassau County Firefighters Pipes and Drums focused on delivering a flawless performance during one of its final rehearsals on Jan. 11 at the East Meadow Fire Department headquarters, camera crews and reporters filmed their every move. 

“We’ve had so many members of the media call us and interview us already,” band manager and drummer Alan Jacoby said. Since the band announced that it had been selected to perform at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration parade on Friday, crews from CBS and News 12 aired segments of the band practicing traditional and patriotic songs in the past several weeks. 

The 45-member ensemble is set to march alongside dozens of performers, including the Marist College Band and the NYPD Emerald Society Pipes & Drums. Bobby Hughes, an East Meadow Fire Department ex-chief and pipe major, said the performance will be the band’s first time at an inauguration parade. “It’s thrilling,” he said. “...[We] couldn’t be more proud.”

Although Hughes said the band is excited to perform for the nation, it has received criticism through emails, phone calls and posts on Facebook. “It got so bad that one page was shut down,” he said. But the band is focused on representing the Nassau County fire service, he added.

“I am thrilled that the new president and a worldwide audience will get a glimpse of our amazing, talented, and hard-working pipes and drums band,” Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves said. “I am proud that they will be representing Nassau County.”

Jacoby said despite criticism from the community, the band will focus on making the fire service, and the community, proud.

“It doesn’t matter who the president is — it’s not about politics,” he said. “We were excited to do this no matter the [election] outcome. We want to make who we represent — the fire service and our communities — proud.”