Details announced for Rose Parade trip
The Pride of the Mountains Marching Band will participate in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Fans of Western Carolina University’s Pride of the Mountains Marching Band can watch the musical group often referred to as “the world’s largest funk rock band” take part in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif.
The university is organizing alumni and booster packages so that family members and others can accompany the 360-member band on the trip that Bob Buckner, director of the Pride of the Mountains, calls “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“Seeing the 2010 Rose Parade live was for me personally the most impressive pageant that I have witnessed in my lifetime. To imagine our band and university on that world stage is truly a thrilling thought,” said Buckner. “Both the Rose Parade and the events surrounding it, including a field show performance at the Tournament of Roses ‘Bandfest,’ will offer a great opportunity to put Western Carolina University in the spotlight.”
An alumni, parents and friends packages is available, which includes accommodations for four nights in an Anaheim-area hotel, tickets to the band’s pre-parade performance at Bandfest, tickets to the 2011 Rose Parade, local transportation and evening special events.
The per-person cost for the five-day, four-night option will be $999 or less, depending on hotel choice. Transportation to and from California is not included. Additional options will be available at extra cost, including a fifth night’s stay and a special event on the California coast to be announced later. A nonrefundable deposit of $100 per person is due by March 15.
The band also is seeking sponsors to help defray the cost of the trip, estimated at between $1,600 and $1,700 per student. In addition to travel and accommodations for band members and staff, the university also must transport the Pride of the Mountain’s instruments and elaborate staging equipment to California.
For more information about travel packages, contact the WCU Office of Alumni Affairs at 828-227-7335, toll-free at 877-440-9990, or visit the Web site roseparade.wcu.edu. For information about sponsorship opportunities for the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band’s appearance at the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade, contact Chris Mueller, director of resource development, via e-mail at clmueller@wcu.edu, call 828-227-3052, or visit roseparade.wcu.edu.
“The entire Western Carolina University family is incredibly excited that our wonderful and talented marching band will be a part of the 2011 Rose Parade,” said Mueller. “We would like for as many friends, alumni and band family members as possible to be able to join the Pride of the Mountains to share in this incredible experience.”
Surprise announcement of the band’s invitation to take part in the Rose Parade came during a ceremony recognizing WCU as winner of the 2009 Sudler Trophy. Representatives of the John Philip Sousa Foundation officially presented the award – a prize that has been called the “Heisman Trophy” of the collegiate marching band world – at halftime of WCU’s home football game on Oct. 24.
