Rose Parade

[trueTEXAN1990]

This is the first topic I have started but I thought this was interesting and timely with the new year and I am also a Lakota West Band member and I will be a Senior next year!

Lakota West band begins Rose Parade fundraising

BY SUE KIESEWETTER | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR

WEST CHESTER TWP. - The countdown begins today for the Lakota West Marching Firebirds, who have become the first high school marching band in Southwest Ohio to be selected to march in the Tournament of Roses parade. But getting to the 2008 event will cost close to $1 million.

Band members and supporters will gather at 10:30 a.m. at Champp's to watch this year's parade, and at noon they plan to welcome the official Rose Parade flag with a drumline escort. Then, the yearlong race begins to raise enough money to perform in the 119th Rose Parade.

About 1 million people a year gather along the 5.5-mile parade route in Pasadena, Calif. Another 350 million people worldwide watch at least part of the parade on television, according to Rose Parade officials.

"It's really thrilling. It's the dream of every band in America to represent its community in the Rose Parade," band director Greg Snyder said from Pasadena, where he is meeting with Tournament of Roses officials about next year's trip.

Snyder estimates there will be 325 band members plus 75 chaperones on the weeklong trip.

Band officials estimate the trip will cost close to $1 million - or about $2,500 per person. Much of that money will come from band members' families. Corporate sponsorships will be sought and other fundraisers will be held.

Snyder said the band has applied to march several times in past years with no luck. Then last spring, the Rose Parade committee contacted him and asked the band to apply. They were notified in November that they were in.

Junior Sarah Pride, 16, already is planning extra rehearsals.

"I think we will be so prepared, we won't have to worry about being scared," said the West Chester Township teen.

It took some research by band parent Gary McClimans to determine that Lakota West was the first Southwest Ohio band to march in the Rose Parade.

Tournament officials told him that records going back to 1950 show that no other Southwest Ohio high school band had played. Before that, nearly all the high schools in the parade came from California.

Rick Shively, fundraising co-chairman for the Upbeat Club, a band booster group, predicts raising money for the trip will be a big challenge.

"But participation in the Rose Parade goes beyond the particular students involved. It's a point of pride for our entire area, and we have no doubt that the people of Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio will make this dream a reality," Shively said.

In the meantime, Snyder is in Pasadena today, scouting.

"We're down here talking with everybody about next year," Snyder said. "We're checking out all the venues. We're looking at all the things we want our kids to see and do so we'll have the perfect trip for our kids next year."

E-mail suek1@fuse.net