JHS Marching Band Leaves For Fla.

The Jamestown High School Red Raider Marching Band is taking its show on the road – all the way to Orlando, Fla., to march in Disney’s Electrical Light Parade.

The band left from the high school Wednesday directly after school let out. It will leave Florida on Monday night and return to Jamestown on Tuesday.

Meghan Murray, band director, said that any high school band that wishes to perform in a parade at Disney may do so by submitting an application.

“They place you in any park or parade they want to. We were hoping to march at Magic Kingdom, just because it would be neat to march in front of Cinderella’s Castle. then, we found out that we had been selected for the Electric Light Parade, and we’re the only band selected for that, so it’s kind of neat,” mrs. Murray said.

This is not the first time that the Red Raider Marching Band has been chosen to be in one of Disney’s many parades. In March 2002, it marched in the Share a Dream Parade in Magic Kingdom.

In December 2007, the band returned to Orlando to march in the Citrus Parade, as well as Disney’s once upon a Christmas Time Parade in Magic Kingdom on New Year’s Eve.

Although this time the band will be performing in the Electric Light Parade, it has chosen to go the patriotic route, as they will be marching the night before Presidents Day.

“We’ll be playing a tribute to America. The kids are really excited, so we hope that we’ll get a good reaction,” mrs. Murray said.

The band has chosen to play “God Bless America,” “My Country Tis of Thee,” and “This is my Country,” for the parade. mrs. Murray said that the band has had the music for a couple of months now, and over the past couple weeks it has been practicing marching.

While in Florida, mrs. Murray said that the band will be spending a little bit of time at every park.

“We’ll be doing a lot of fun things. We’ll do dinner at Downtown Disney, and spend a good chunk of time at Epcot and Hollywood Studios,” mrs. Murray said.

The band has been fundraising for this trip for several months. Aside from payments made by each student, it has also held a can and bottle drive, as well as a Bob Evans Day, where a portion of proceeds went to the band.

JHS Marching Band Leaves For Fla.