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 The Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passes through downtown Wapakoneta Wednesday, September 1. Staff photo/William Laney By CARLA MEYER
Staff Writer
For 45 minutes, the roar of motorcycles could be heard passing under an American flag hanging from two ladder trucks. For 45 minutes, area residents gathered in the shadow of the Auglaize County Courthouse and Wapakoneta Fire Station waved and clapped as motorcyclists rode by.
The smiles and waves turned into clapping and cheers as the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passed down Willipie Street on its way to Custenborder Field in Sidney where it was greeted by a field of American flags.
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Local ties to band at Roses Parade |
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Monday, 29 December 2008 |
By KRISTA HAYES
Staff Writer
A youth with local ties should soon make history as he gets set to perform in the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade as a member of the National Honor Band.
Tyler Johnson, a senior at Brookville High School, recently was selected by Bands of America to join its National Honor Band to perform New Year’s Day in the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Johnson, whose grandmother, Barbara Meyers, lives in Wapakoneta, was selected from hundreds of student applicants across the nation for membership into the prestigious honors ensemble.
“I first learned of the National Honor Band while I was attending a Music for All Summer Symposium earlier this year in Illinois,” the son of Theresa and Ted Johnson said. “It sounded like a lot of fun and seemed like a good opportunity where I could further my education in music, so I decided to apply in July.
“I then learned that I made the cut and was accepted to join the Honors Band in November,” he said. “Needless to say, I was shocked and excited at the same time, and I felt very honored since not many kids my age can say they performed in the Tournament of Roses Parade.”
The Bands of America National Honor Band is a 300-piece national ensemble with brass, wind and percussion instrumentalists, as well as a flag corps and dance team. As a program for Music for All, one of the nation’s largest and most influential organizations in support of active music-making, this year, the National Honor Band will be directed by an all-star staff, including George Parks, director of the University of Massachusetts Minutemen Marching Band.
Not only a band director of a prestigious higher institution of learning, Parks also serves as an expert and clinician for America’s drum majors and field commanders who lead and conduct high school and college marching bands.
The Honor Band nationally-recognized teaching staff who are to accompany Parks in directing the Honor Band include award-winning directors from Cypress Falls and Stephen F. Austin High Schools, in Texas, Etiwanda High School, in California, Kennesaw Mountain High School, in Georgia, Louisville Male High School, in Kentucky, Marian Catholic High School, in Illinois, Tarpon Springs High School, in Florida and the University of Delaware.
Johnson, a trombone player, left Friday and is to spend a week in southern California after leaving Ohio for the West Coast, where he will have rehearsals, performances at the Tournament of Roses Bandfest and Disneyland, special activities and a featured appearance in the world-famous parade.
“The part of the trip I am the most excited about and looking forward to is getting the experience to march in the parade,” Johnson said last week in a telephone interview. “It’s not every day when I get the chance to be on TV for my family, friends, community (the Dayton area) and the whole-wide world to see. I’m also looking forward to having my parents, sister and brother being there in California with me to first-handedly witness me marching in the parade, as well as going to Disneyland too, since I’ve never been there.”
The Tournament of Roses Parade, “America’s New Year’s Celebration,” is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Thursday, New Year’s Day.
The 5.5-mile Roses Parade is scheduled to be broadcast New Year’s Day on ABC, NBC, CBS, Univision, HGTV, Telemundo, Travel Channel and Discovery HD.
The parade also is aired in 28 countries around the world, which features floral floats, marching bands from all over the U.S. and equestrian units anchoring the traditional two-hour spectacle along Pasadena’s famed Colorado Boulevard.
“To be selected for this unique opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students,” Bands of America President and CEO Scott McCormick said. “The Tournament of Roses Parade is one of our country’s national pageantry treasures, and the 2009 Honor Band members will be ambassadors of America’s bands and of their states and communities.”
The 2009 Honor Band is only the second Bands of America national marching band to march in the Tournament of Roses Parade, the first appearing in 2005.
“To be a part of a band that has only marched in the Roses Parade twice in U.S. history, is really a mind-blowing honor,” Johnson said. “Words can’t even begin to describe how stoked I am to march in the parade, representing Brookville High School and my community back home. I’m just hoping that Penn State (Nittany Lions) wins the Rose Bowl (vs. USC Trojans) so that it can be icing on the cake for my first trip to California.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 December 2008 )
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