The Manhattan High School Big Blue Marching Band led the Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11. The band kicked off their performance at 9:30 a.m., playing a parade arrangement of “God Bless America,” while the MHS Cheer team and Colorguard performed rhythmically along with them.
Normally, the Fort Riley 1st Infantry Division Band leads the parade. The government shutdown kept the Fort Riley marching band from participating in the parade this year.
“So they asked us to take their place at the beginning of the parade,” band director Joel Gittle said.
Members of the band felt it was a great honor to be given this opportunity to be leading the parade. Many other familiar groups and faces, like the American Legion Riders and the Junction City Junior Reserve Training Corps joined in the parade. The march started on Poyntz Avenue and ended at City Park with speeches from veterans and active members of the military.
“It’s honorable,” sophomore Becky Graysneck said. “To not only be at the front, but to be basically marching instead of the actual military bases marching band, I think that was something special.”
Behind the scenes, there was uncertainty around transportation, because of the morning routes convening with the times the band needed to get to the event. But everything went smoothly the day of.
“They got us down there and they got us home,” Gittle said. “I know how busy they are in the morning, so for them to make this work was great.”
Preparation started at 8:00 that morning, all leading up to the beginning of the parade. It gradually warmed up as they marched.
“It was actually quite warm,” Graysneck said. “I expected it to be much colder than it was, a lot of us were sweating by the end of it.”
Compared to last year’s Veterans Day Parade, the weather and lineup were the biggest changes that this year brought. And throughout the years, the parade has stayed very consistent to its past programming.
“The Veterans Day Parade has been the same in my 35 years,” Gittle said. “I don’t know of it being any different. The route’s always been the same.”
For the freshmen of the Big Blue Marching Band, the parade could be considered as the last piece towards the full marching experience.
“They’ve been to games, they’ve been to a parade,” Graysneck said. “When I was a freshman last year, I felt like I was actually part of something, being in a big parade like that.”
Hundreds came to watch and attend the 32-year-old tradition and celebrate veterans.
“It’s a great honor to lead the Veterans Day Parade,” Gittle said. “And to be the first unit down to lead everybody else behind us, it’s a great honor for our band and our school.”
