The Gallatin Bulldog Pride Marching Band will have the high honor of being the only band from Missouri selected to perform in the Independence Day Parade on July 4 in Washington, D.C.
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Music Celebrations International, which coordinates the parade, asked Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to select a band to represent Missouri. Gov. Nixon’s office asked for suggestions from Missouri Band Master’s Association and the Missouri Music Education Association. Both of these groups recommended the Gallatin band.
"We’ll do what we do," said Gallatin music instructor Gene Edwards. "It’s a big honor for a school of any size, but for a 7-12 instead of a 9-12 like the bigger schools, it’s an even greater accomplishment."
Fifty GHS band students from grades 7-12 will be going to Washington D.C. along with 53 adults. And, yes, that’s more adults than students. The school had to guarantee that 100 people would attend the event. Gallatin Band Instructor Gene Edwards said students and parents signed a contract to go on the trip, but 20 parents quit after they’d already agreed to go. The number was then made up in moms, dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Everybody paid their own way. The kids held fund-raisers or paid out-of-pocket or made monthly payments of $40 for 12 months. It cost about $477 to get a hotel room with four-to-a-room accommodations.
Paying their own way is nothing new to these band students. They’ve had to raise their own funds to take a Texas trip to the Cotton Bowl and twice to perform at Branson on Stage Live.
For this trip, he band will leave for Washington D.C. at 9:30 a.m. on July 1 on two chartered buses. They will arrive July 2 and perform that day at the WWII Memorial.
July 3 will be a full day of sight-seeing. They will visit the Lincoln Memorial; Vietnam Memorial; Korean Memorial; Iwo Jima Memorial; Arlington Cemetery; Embassy Row; Kennedy Center; National Cathedral; and the Mt. Vernon Estate and Gardens.
Based on an essay competition, four students will be selected to place a wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Solider.
On July 4 the band will march the one mile route in the parade. They will "stage up" at the National Mall. The parade starts at 12 noon.
After the parade, the students will tour the Smithsonian Museum, have a box lunch, then enjoy the July 4 festivities at the capital with guest artists entertaining the crowd and a celebration of fireworks.
On the fifth, they will check out at 9:30 a.m. and then take a tour of the capital. Edwards said he had proposed a White House tour, but it is in the hands of the Secret Service as to whether the group will be able to go or not. The band will get home July 6 in the early evening.
Edwards has been at the GHS for 10 years. Before Gallatin he was at Macon for one year; Stewartsville three years; Polo three years; and Southwest Livingston for seven years.
Terry Tairent is Band Booster president and volunteer/assistant. The students call her "Mama Tairent." She has watched and listened to the band grow and improve.
"I’m proud of all of them," she said. "They’ve worked hard and earned this trip."
Tairent played clarinet in high school and was in the marching and concert bands.
"I think that’s why I enjoy being here," she said. "It was my favorite thing in school. I loved being in the marching band. These are a good bunch of kids and fine musicians."
The trip to Washington is one of many notable accomplishments by the Gallatin Bulldog Pride Marching and Concert Bands over the past several years. They have marched in the Cotton Bowl Parade, as well as performed at its halftime show, have performed at the Missouri Music Educators Association conference at Tan-Tar-A, and have opened for featured acts two times on-stage live at Branson.
"I push hard and expect big things," Edwards said. "The kids know that. They either step up or step out."