Photo courtesy of Travis Bender, Spirit of Cahaba.
Oak Mountain High School’s Spirit of Cahaba marching band performs during a Nov. 4, football game against Hewitt-Trussville. The band will go on to perform at the 2018 Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.
The Oak Mountain High School’s “Spirit of Cahaba” marching band has been invited to participate in the 2018 National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 2018. In order to be considered for this parade, marching bands of 100 or more members submitted a written application as well as a DVD of the band in a recent parade appearance.
The televised parade is two hours long and is one of the largest annual spectator events in Washington. More than 1.5 million people attended the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade last year, with several million more watching either online or on TV, according to the National Cherry Blossom Festival website.
“This is such an exciting honor to share with the Oak Mountain community, and it gives us the opportunity to showcase our students’ talents on a national stage,” said Travis Bender, assistant director of bands at Oak Mountain High School. “Our invitation to this parade means we’ll be performing for our biggest audience in the band’s history.”
Although this is the first year Spirit of Cahaba will be participating in the National Cherry Blossom Festival, in 2017 the band participated in the Walt Disney World Parade in Orlando, Florida. Several students have also performed in the Macy’s Great American Marching Band in previous years.
Bender said the marching band program has grown exponentially over the last five years, and “the crowds are going to love the energy and atmosphere that our students create at this event.”
Even though marching band season ends when football season does, Bender said this year the band will continue to practice its marching, even using a drone to view the performance from above to help visualize improvements made and determine what still needs to be done. As the event nears, the band will practice marching on a mock parade route.
Spirit of Cahaba performs at every Oak Mountain football game during halftime and participates in marching contests during the fall season. The band consistently obtains superior ratings in these contests, as well as many best in class and overall awards, according to the band’s website. In addition to the band as a whole, many of the band members perform with statewide honor bands hosted by state colleges and the Alabama Bandmasters Association.
Spirit of Cahaba will also participate in the Shelby County Showcase of Bands, which takes place Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 6 p.m. at Heardmont Park. Ticket sales will benefit the performing high school band programs.
More than 250 people will go to the parade next year, including students, parents and faculty, so the band is raising funds as a part of its preparations.
For more information about Spirit of Cahaba, visit omhsbandboosters.org.
