How Many Bagpipers Are There?

Today marked the 247th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City -- the oldest in the U.S. From my office window, which is about 100 feet from the parade's route on Fifth Avenue, I heard every high school marching band roll-off and bagpipe ensemble that came by. It started at 11AM and by 3PM (when I took some Advil) I was wondering if, when the bagpipers finished the four-mile trek up Fifth Avenue, they didn't take a bus back downtown to start marching the route again. I mean, how many bagpipers are there in the world and why do they only play one of three songs? The parade finally wrapped up at 5:00PM -- 6 hours after it began! An army of street cleaners hit the route within minutes of the it finishing in order to get Fifth Avenue reopened for the evening's rush hour. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Photo: Bagpipers marching past St. Patrick's Cathedral, a few blocks away.