Dunedin lived up to its name as the Edinburgh of the South at the weekend as the sound of massed pipes and drums echoed through the city streets.
About 400 people took part in the annual Octagonal Day street march, hosted by the Otago Centre of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association, which began at the Dunedin Town Hall at 11am on Saturday.
About 15 bands came from as far afield as Invercargill and Christchurch to compete.
For Ashburton Pipe Band tenor drum player Lauren Wright the Octagonal Day march was her first big competition.
She joined the pipe band in August after spending a lot of time on the sidelines watching her partner, Leighton Terry, play.
She wasn’t alone, as a few other partners of the band’s pipe players decided to do the same.
"We just thought we would give it a go... It is quite satisfying," she said.
They attended coaching twice a week to prepare for the contest.
While she had got the hang of the tenor drums, she still hadn’t mastered braiding her hair, Ms Wright said.
Among the crowd at the march were 15-month-old twins Lucy and Olivia Bishop, who were sporting large pink earmuffs.
Their mother, Susanna Bishop, said they were there to support their father, who was marching for the ILT City of Invercargill Pipe Band.
As for the earmuffs — the girls had had enough of the sound of pipes at home, Ms Bishop joked.
A massed street march from Princes St towards the George St side of the Octagon finished off Saturday’s activities, and the Otago Southland provincial contest was held at the North Ground yesterday.
