Members of the Douglas Tiger Band perform in the 2022 Nevada Day Parade.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
Out of all the schools in Nevada, Douglas High School’s show band is marching into Washington D.C. for the National Memo-rial Day Parade on May 27.
With an attendance of more than 250,000 spectators, the National Memorial Day Parade is the largest parade in the United States, which honors the memory of servicemen and servicewomen who died to protect American freedoms and values.
“The main goal of the music department is to provide opportunities to perform and being able to do that on different stages and representing the school, county and the state is a great opportunity for them,” said Douglas High School Band and Choir teacher Mark Porter.
The Douglas High School band has performed in Washington D.C. in the past including marching three times during the inauguration parade in 1989, 2001 and 2005 under then band director Bill Zabelsky.
“It’s important to us to provide different experiences and various audiences for the students to perform,” said Porter.
Assistant Drum Major and senior Kai Odell said she is looking forward to representing Douglas High School.
“I am honestly so blown away to go and represent not just our school, but the state, it is such an honor,” said Odell. “I’m a little nervous too because we are a smaller band, even regionally, but we have such a great group and I think we are going to kill it.”
Drum major and senior Rayanne Bytheway said the band’s tight connection gives her confidence in the band’s performance.
“I absolutely love the people, it’s been such an incredible experience with everyone, and I love performing with a such a great group of people,” said Bytheway.
Aside from marching in the parade the students have the opportunity to explore the nation’s capital.
“Just being somewhere new and seeing different things is going to be an experience all on its own,” said Odell. “I think we’re collectively looking forward to being together in our performance and the different atmosphere.”
With such an experience, though, comes great expenses too and the band, Porter and band parents have organized a few different fundraising projects.
“Our goal is $20,000, but we want to raise as much as we can for instruments and hopefully for more events and opportunities so our band can experience more places,” said Odell.
The students have a fundraiser link called Redline which they send to family and friends to encourage donations.
As of Thursday, the students raised $8,765 through the Redline link.
“We started that the previous Thursday, so within one week they had collectively raised that much, which is pretty impressive,” said Porter.
The students’ incentive might have a lot to do with the experience they have to look forward to, but some other incentives are choosing what color to dye the band director’s hair if they reach $10,000 or his style at $15,000.
“It’s made it fun to help us reach our goals, and it will be fun to choose his hair cut or color,” said Odell. “Could you imagine Porter with a mohawk or a mullet?”
Band parents are organizing a raffle and a GoFundMe has been set up for the band.
“The Redline link is student-run, and that can be requested from all performing groups and that closes March 10,” said Por-ter. “The parents are organizing the raffle which is still in the process of being set up and the GoFundMe will be open until May 27 when we leave. Anyone is welcome to help, and any donation helps us reach our goal. We really just want to make this opportunity happen for the students and giving them this experience to represent their school, community and state.”
The band was selected by former Gov. Steve Sisolak to represent the state in the annual parade through the national capital.
“Normally if you want to go, you have to audition with a video and there’s a process, but we were nominated by Sisolak and selected, so it’s a great honor,” said Porter. “It’s a great opportunity for the students and the community.”
For more information and to donate visit the band’s GoFundMe page a https://www.gofundme.com/f/dhs-marching-band-get-to-washington-dc-may-2023?qid=6ab243f7b9662e4a245b9b85b6dee3a2
