By Bonita Wilborn
On Friday, December 7, the Plainview High School Marching Band participated in the Gatlinburg Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade. According to Band Director, Chris Davis, the process for getting to perform in such a parade is fairly simple, fill out an application requesting to march in the parade, and if you’re accepted then you have to send them insurance liability forms. The physical preparation, however, is a little more involved.
“We do various parades throughout the year; Homecoming parade and Rainsville Christmas Parade, but Gatlinburg is a tough parade,” Davis said. “The students had to march 1½ miles, up and down hills, carrying their instruments.”
One other aspect of getting to go to Gatlinburg for the parade was fund raising. Anytime students have the opportunity to participate in activities that require travel and overnight lodging, it stands to reason that a modicum of financial needs must be met. This particular trip required a little over $100 per band student. So the students had some work to do also. As is common practice with any fundraiser, the students went out and about throughout the town and the school, raising money for the trip.
In addition to the parade itself, the students got to stay in Gatlinburg for three nights and take in the following attractions: Dolly Parton’s Stampede, WonderWorks, and the Ripley’s Aquarium.
Davis added, “We had a lot of band parents that went with us. They were very supportive. I felt like we had the best reception in Gatlinburg that we’ve had anywhere. We had students designated to wave to the crowd ,and they were waving and smiling back and yelling Merry Christmas. I felt really happy with the outcome and I’d be willing to do it again.”
Davis also commented that his future goal is to be able to take the band to the parade in Washington D.C. “That trip would cost more like $500 per student, so we’d have to do a lot more fund raising,” he said.
Under Davis’ tutelage, the 2017-2018 Plainview Band has really flourished, gaining 12 Superior Ratings, 4 Best-In-Class Awards, 2nd Place Band Award in the Rome, Georgia competition, and a Most Entertaining Band Award in the Scottsboro Competition. In addition to all their accolades in the competition genre, the band generated a lot of interest during their halftime performances at football games this year with the addition of the live hawk that swoops down from the stadium seats to Alicia Whitfield, a band member on the field. This aspect has been possible due to the hard work of Alicia’s dad Matt Whitfield, who is an accomplished falconer.
Davis has also generated a lot of interest among the student body, as often happens when someone new takes on the task of guiding a group of individuals.
Mountain Valley News would like to take this opportunity to say, “Congratulations” the Plainview High School Marching Bears. Keep up the good work!