The Band’s Proper Place

To the Editor:

I appreciate the difficult job of placing groups in order to march in the Labor Day Parade. Everyone wants to go first. As a participant walker in the parade with different organizations over the years, I know that we have started the parade at different times/locations.

One thing has never changed though, and that has been that the Newtown High School Marching Band and Guard have always been in the Escort Division. My children knew that when they saw and heard the Newtown Marching Band and Guard, that the Newtown parade had started.

This year, the Newtown Marching Nighthawks had been asked to march in a Columbus Day parade in another town. They turned down that opportunity to be in Newtown, to be able to start the parade as they always have.

On Sunday, the students and parent volunteers met at Hawley School at 12:15, to get prepared to start the parade at 2 pm. The students were at the ambulance garage on Main Street ready to march at 1 pm. The students were all wearing their wool uniforms despite the 80 degree heat, because people like to see the marching band in uniform.

The students take pride in representing their high school in a positive way by marching in the parade. Everyone is excited to see and hear the band and color guard.

Why, after the students were up at the ambulance garage and prepared to march, were they told that another band would be starting the parade because of a schedule change? They were told that the parade organizers wanted to balance out the bands throughout the parade. The Newtown Marching Nighthawks would not be starting the parade, but they would be in the Third Division at the end. The students were puzzled, the chaperones were puzzled, and the people lined up and down the parade route waiting to see the band start the parade were puzzled. What happened to the Newtown High School Band and Guard? They always start the parade!

The chaperones brought four cases of water to carry along the parade route, but that doesn’t go far with 113 students, when you aren’t prepared to be pushed back to the end of the parade. Wearing high-necked, long-sleeved wool uniforms, and carrying heavy instruments down a parade route is hard enough work, even more so when it’s 80 degrees out, and you’ve been wearing the wool uniform for over three hours. The guard members all wore long-sleeved, long-pant, velour costumes with leather gloves to carry their flags.

From The Bee on October 6, “… the committee is looking forward to Sunday, October 9, when the 50th anniversary parade steps off from the top of Main Street, at 2 pm, led by the Newtown High School Marching Band.”

How can you have the Newtown High School Band and Guard be bumped to the back for another band? How can the Newtown Marching Band and Guard not start the Newtown Parade?

Sincerely,

Isabel Cummings

98 Glen Road, Sandy Hook                                    October 11, 2011