Dressed in identical tartan kilts and billowing white shirts, the 33 members of the Chicago Highlanders Pipe Band marched like toy soldiers down Central Street in Evanston on July 4. With 23 bagpipe players and 10 drummers, the band members paraded in strict formation as sweat beaded on their foreheads.

The Scottish-inspired pipe band performed at the 91st Evanston 4th of July parade Wednesday despite the record-breaking 102 degree weather.

“The bagpipe is a bitch to play in the best of times. With the heat, it’s easy to get exhausted,” 40-year-old Mark Klamut said. “We just did a parade in Lake Bluff and I was pretty faint by the end of it. It’s seriously hot.”

Klamut joined the band after a referral from a friend two years ago. Though he’s never been to the Evanston parade before, he has played in other parades and enjoys the company of the other 32 members of the group, he said.

Tenor drummer Jennifer Watson, 24, has been playing the drum for about a year. She joined the Chicago Highlanders Pipe Band last year because she missed the marching band she had played with for eight years. Even in the heat, she has fun playing with the group, she said.

“It’s a little bit hot today but we all enjoy it,” Watson said. “It’s a lot of fun and a good way to stay with music.”

World War I veterans James and Rob Sims, both of whom were in the Scottish regiments, formed the group in 1921. It’s the United States’ oldest continuous bagpipe band, according to the group’s website.

Musical groups like the Chicago Highlanders Pipe Band are judged in increments of five points based on participation, safety and connection to the parade’s theme, parade judge Jack Levie said.

“A lot of groups look really good, but they don’t have the theme of the parade, which is diversity through unity,” he said.

Klamut said he hopes that, despite the sweltering weather, the performance impressed the judges enough that the Evanston Fourth of July Association will invite them back next year.

“It’s been difficult, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “But I hope we rock you guys’ socks off.”