She’s an airline pilot. She’s a bagpiper. And she leads the band for St. Patrick’s Day
A local burger grill made “Irish nachos” famous.
But fried potatoes won’t be at center stage Saturday in downtown Arlington when J. Gilligan’s Bar & Grill throws its 45th annual festival and nighttime block party, one of Texas’ largest St. Patrick’s Day events.
Kate Pressel of Fort Worth is far from a typical headline act for a party. She is a major airline pilot by profession.
And she plays the bagpipe.
“I don’t typically go along gender norms,” she emailed this week, an understatement.
Pressel flies jets out of DFW and also plays in Rockstrocity, a band that plays both bagpipe songs and classic rock. It’s the perfect music for J. Gilligan’s annual celebration, a day-long event at 400 W. Abram St.
J. Gilligan’s makes news every St. Patrick’s Day, mainly for one inspired moment in 1980.
That’s when owner Randy Ford took a plateful of cottage fries and scattered sliced jalapenos and cheese across them, like nachos.
Asked what to call them, he blurted, “Irish nachos.”
Ever since, Gilligan’s has built its fame around burgers, beer and Irish nachos. Now, it’s a primary stop for gatherings, events and pre- or post-game stopovers near AT&T Stadium or Globe Life Field.
In the middle of the Irish green beer and sliced potatoes, Pressel will play Scottish bagpipe classics.
Last New Year’s, she marched and played in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. On St. Patrick’s, Pressel will be playing again as a tribute to her late father, a 22-year bagpiper in Dayton, Ohio, and her mother, at age 77 still a drummer for a bagpipe band.
She grew up winning Highland dance contests, then went on to her career as a pilot. Twenty years ago, to surprise her father, she decided to learn the bagpipes.
He was “my inspiration to be both a bagpiper and a pilot,” she wrote.
But her father died suddenly. They had only played together once.
“I picked up his pipes that day,” she wrote, “and dedicated myself to preserving both the music and his memory.”
She also plays keyboard, viola, bass guitar and ukulele in the band.
Rockstrocity will play at 7 p.m. Saturday at J. Gilligan’s and also at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at a Keller bar, Shotzee’s, 134 S. Main St.
If music’s magic is that it evokes emotion, “I believe the bagpipes are the king of that magic,” she wrote.
More women are playing bagpipes lately in social media videos, she wrote.
“I know a majority of the musicians out there are men, but I don’t know why,” she wrote.
“I thrive on making people question, ‘Why not?’ Why would women not play the pipes? Why not put bagpipes in your rock band?“
Sure.
And why not add jalapenos and cheese to fried potatoes?
It’s a day to make everything Irish.
This story was originally published March 14, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
