Evergreen Marches Toward History

The Evergreen High School marching band held a send-off parade in the Fircrest neighborhood on Tuesday, prior to its trip to Washington, D.C., and next week’s inaugural parade. With band uniforms already packed, the group wore matching jackets with a logo that marks the inauguration. (Photos by VIVIAN JOHNSON/for The Columbian)

The Evergreen High band is a regular sweepstakes winner in Portland’s Rose Festival and Starlight parades. Students say they’re ready for next week’s inaugural parade, with the eyes of a new president and national audience on them.

Spectators crowded LeRoy Haagen Memorial Community Park for Tuesday’s send-off celebration. The Evergreen band thanked donors who raised more than $25,000 to help all 150 students meet travel costs.

The notes carried strong and clear in the crisp air and tall firs that line Northeast Ninth Street.

Come Tuesday, historic marble buildings, cheering crowds and a brand-new U.S. president will form the backdrop for the Evergreen High School Marching Band & Color Guard.

But before the group departs for Washington, D.C. — and the inaugural parade for President-elect Barack Obama — they got a rousing send-off from their families and loyal boosters on Tuesday.

“You will march in the parade, and you will take every one of us with you,” Kelly Love, field representative for U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, told the musicians, standing proud before a few hundred admirers gathered at LeRoy Haagen Memorial Community Park.

A short parade on Ninth Street, from Fircrest Elementary School to the park, capped a frantic stretch of fundraising that helped dozens of band members make the trip. Late donations pushed past $25,000, to help ensure a full unit will travel.

To thank supporters and share some love, the band arranged to march and perform the state song, “Washington, My Home,” it will play in the nation’s capital.

Down the street Evergreen came, seven abreast, behind the U.S. flag and a group of Vietnam veterans on motorcycles: Two banner-carriers, followed by coronets and trumpets, then saxophones, trombones, bass clarinets, drums, sousaphones, clarinets and flutes -- 18 rows in all.

Another five rows of the color guard brought up the rear.

The musical arrangement scored by Danny Orrantia, assistant band director, includes one verse sung out loud:

“Small town and cities

rest here in the sun

Filled with our laughter

Washington, my home.”

The adoring audience ate it up.

“We’ve got a front-row seat,” Jeff Duncan told his bundled daughter, Lily, 8, as she perched in his lap, on a folding chair.

She waited with her mother, Kelley, and grandfather, Mike, for older brother, Eric, 16, a sophomore clarinet player in the band.

When the smart-marching unit approached, the whole Duncan clan jumped to join others who surged toward the curb, cheering on the Plainsmen while snapping photos and capturing video.

It was the first of many unforgettable moments ahead for the Evergreen students, 150 strong.

“These kids will be telling their kids about this,” Pat Jollota, Vancouver city council member, told the park crowd.

Jollota read a mayoral proclamation that declares Jan. 20 Evergreen marching band and color guard day. It recognized the championship-caliber group, one of only 100 chosen from the roughly 1,400 nationwide that applied for a prized slot on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The band will play for the new president “to great distinction, bringing great honor to America’s Vancouver,” Jollota said.

Channeling Baird’s message, Love said the treat is a two-way street, made possible only with the community’s help. Many teens found raising the $862 needed to make the five-day journey to be out of reach.

This is a perfect lesson “to see how the world works,” Love told the students. With a nod to months of toil each year to hone their marching, she continued, “Not for one minute should they think they got to Washington, D.C., on their own.

“You will march out front, but with hundreds of people behind you,” Love said.

Steve Kuske, Evergreen band director, said he and students were humbled by recent events.

“I can’t believe the outpouring of love and support from this community,” Kuske said.

He thanked band parents, both for nurturing their children’s creativity and instilling discipline. He thanked boosters’ tireless work: Not a cent of Evergreen school district money goes toward the band trip, he said, “Not even the postage stamp on our application letter.

“They’d walk miles through the snow for us,” Kuske said of the boosters.

Next Tuesday, Evergreen might need to navigate only about 1.6 miles of snowy weather.

The latest National Weather Service forecast for Washington, D.C., calls for an overcast day with a chance of snow, and high temperatures near 33 degrees.

That should be no trouble for the sturdy, competition-tested band.

“We can’t wait for you to see us in this parade, because we will do you proud,” Kuske said.

Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.