If you heard the high-pitched whale of bagpipes in Willis Park last Friday afternoon, it wasn’t anyone local putting on the show.
Kevin Moe, 20, was just making a stop in Bainbridge during his travels across the country. The Utah native dresses the part, too, all the way down to the kilt and iconic hat.
“This trip has been nearly three months,” Moe said. “My girlfriend (Helen Pugsley) and I went down to Florida. We were looking for jobs on boats. We wanted to travel the world.”
When they learned they had to be 21 to work on a boat, they began their trip back northwest. They hope to be home by Christmas.
This isn’t the first bagpipe excursion Moe has taken. When he was 17, he spent nine months traveling through Canada, playing his songs in different cities along the way.
“I didn’t really have the money saved up, so I figured I’d make it along the way,” Moe said. He plays with a small container for donations in front of him.
Moe said he had a little bit of Scottish heritage in his blood, but his love for the bagpipes simply comes from the feeling he gets while playing them.
“I’ve always really liked the sound of bagpipes,” he said. “There’s a feeling I get in my heart when I hear them. So I wanted to make that sound.”
When Moe returns home, he hopes to enroll in school and study photography.
“I’m really into photography and writing,” he said. “I keep a journal. Maybe I’ll turn this trip into a book.”