LAKEWOOD RANCH - Growing up in a New York City apartment, Larry Jacobs told his parents he wanted to play the bagpipes. Jacobs' father was from Scotland, so he listened to bagpipe music throughout his childhood.

"No way you're playin' the bagpipes in here," Jacobs' parents told him.

Jacobs thought he would strike out again when, here in Southwest Florida, he told his wife he had always wanted to play.

"Well, why don't you go for it?" Jacobs recalled his wife's response, which surprised him.

Jacobs found Gary Reinstrom, who taught him how to play the bagpipes.

On Friday, the two men, who founded the band - along with the rest of the Jacobites Pipe and Drum Band - will lead the National Tartan Day parade during the monthly Music on Main concert at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch. The street festival lasts from 6 to 9 p.m. and features the musical stylings of the dance band Chamelion.

About 40 members of the Caledonian Club of Florida West will carry tartans during the parade, said Don Mercereau. Also marching are members of the St. Andrews Society of Sarasota, the Scottish Heritage Society of Sarasota and the Daughters of Scotia.

Mercereau, a past president of the Caledonian Club, has been on the club's board since its inception. Years ago, clan members wore different-colored tartans in battle to distinguish one clan from another, he said.

Clans eventually established their tartans and registered them with the Scottish Tartans Authority in Edinburgh, Scotland, Mercereau said. MacLean was the last name of his grandmother, who is from Paisley, Scotland, "so that's my claim. It means a lot," to be able to march in Friday's parade.

This is the first time National Tartan Day will be celebrated during Music on Main, and the idea for it was the brainchild of the owners of MacAllisters Restaurant at Main Street, said Pat Westerhouse, general manager of Main Street at Lakewood Ranch.

It also is the first time the Humane Society of Sarasota County is the event's benefiting charity. Local charities sell beer and wine during Music on Main, and, depending on the weather and other factors, they can raise as much as $3,000, Westerhouse said.

About a half-hour is allotted for the National Tartan Day parade, Mercereau said. Members of the various clubs and societies will line up in the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center parking lot, then at 6:45 p.m. march across Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and down Main Street, ending near MacAllisters.

For the Jacobites, leading a parade is nothing new. The band, which was then 12 members, led a parade to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, and it's grown from there. Today, about 70 bagpipers, drummers, guitarists, bassists, keyboarders, saxophonists, flutists and chorus members make up the band, though the chorus won't perform in the parade, Jacobs said.

"It's a privilege," he said. "Gary and I do what we can to keep the Scottish heritage vibrant and alive in this community."

The Scottish more or less established Sarasota, Mercereau said, and so it's important to keep their spirit intact.

"We do what we can to keep the music alive," Jacobs said.