The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Disney Band Trip
by: Jessica Boyle
On May 31st, eight La Harpe High School band students and Mrs. Mencel left for a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
At the beginning of the school year Carthage's band director, Mrs. Hartweg, had invited La Harpe to go with them on the trip. All the band students were going to get to march down Main Street USA. Carthage's Concert band and choir were going to perform at Musicfest Orlando.
The whole group consisted of about seventy people. Two Peoria charter buses were taken on the trip. The drive from Carthage to Orlando took about 22 hours, stopping only for three meals and a couple of restroom breaks along the way.
Ron Jon Surf Shop was the first stop of the day. The students and chaperones shopped for a while, and then they headed off to Cocoa Beach, where a BBQ was provided. After a long day of walking along the ocean:swimming, surfing, tanning, collecting seashells, and playing in the sand: everyone boarded the buses and headed to the hotel, SpringHill Suites.
Not much swimming was done at the outdoor hotel pool because of Tropical Storm Barry, which was expected to bring high winds and 4 inches of rain. The tropical storm later weakened into a tropical depression having lower speed winds than expected, but the rain still came.
On Saturday morning, Carthage concert band and choir students competed in Musicfest Orlando at Freedom High School. After their performances they spent the day at MGM Studios, a park at Disney World.
In the evening an awards ceremony was held at Fantasia Gardens Pavilion. Carthage Concert Band took 3rd place in their class and the choir received a 2nd place.
All day Sunday was spent at Magic Kingdom. Around seven o'clock the marching band was allowed backstage to get ready for the lighted parade that they would march in. They dressed in their uniforms and put their instruments together.
As they stood in formation they watched as all the floats drove to their spots in the line. Finally the moment came for them to be the first ones out the gate and to march onto Main Street USA. As they marched they played Aztec Fire by Jay Bocook.
On the final day in Florida everyone was at Epcot most of the day. The students were allowed to take a bus to any of the other parks if they wanted to. After a long and tiring, but fun day at Epcot they headed for home at nine o'clock that night.
The La Harpe students that attended were: Tom Pflasterer, Katie Swanson, Mariah Myers, Joslin Dowell, Lyndsey Gutowski, Tanisha Wisslead, Haylee Miller, and Jessica Boyle