Rehoboth wraps up summer with Piping Out on Boardwalk

Rehoboth Beach visitors and locals closed out the 2024 summer season by participating in the annual Piping Out the Summer Sept. 2 on the Boardwalk. Participants used a variety of musical instruments – kazoos, violins, washboards, toy accordions – during the whimsical event.

Hosted by the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society and Museum and Henlopen Hotel, the annual event was founded by former Henlopen Hotel bandleader and trombonist Sammy Ferro in the 1950s. The original Piping Out lasted for four decades until 1999. It was revived in 2019.

Ferro’s orchestra played for dances held at the old Henlopen Hotel. After the last dance of the summer on Labor Day, Ferro would take his band to the boards, followed by his audience, and then lead a spontaneous musical parade down the Boardwalk to the vicinity of Rehoboth Avenue.