Duty  Pride  Tradition

Duty  ☘  Pride  ☘  Tradition

The Black Pearl Pipes and Drums is a non-profit 501 C# corporation. We play academy graduations, department ceremonies, funerals, memorials, as well as public events. We are sole sponsored, as no one Fire Department buys our equipment or uniforms. The band and band members are responsible for purchasing and maintaining their uniforms and equipment. We try to generate funding through donations and sales of band memorabilia - shirts, hats, decals, challenge coins, etc. If you would like to make a donation please click here, Donate.

We were established in September of 2006 by Chief Mike Nugent and Fireman Timothy Gleason. The original band was going to be members of the Florida Task Force 2 - a national disaster response team under the FEMA organization. Our goal was to create the first USAR pipe band. We had a large response from members but over time we could not get the commitment.

The six members we did have, decided that we would take any fireman - active or retired to come and play with us. We now have pipers and drummers from throughout the South Florida area. As our band grows, so does our ability to improve. If you are a fireman and would like to join us, please feel free to contact us through our Contact page. If you would like to learn to play the pipes or drums, we can help with that as well.

We chose the name Black Pearl since no one single Fire Department is responsible for the band. We did not want to be limited to just one fire department being represented or anyone being excluded. Our uniforms carry the members department patch on the left sleeve and the band patch on the right sleeve to proudly display both the band we play with and the fire department we represent.