Local high school band invited to perform at Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Hawaii - East Idaho News
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Local high school band invited to perform at Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Hawaii

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RIGBY — The Rigby High School marching band will have the opportunity of a lifetime after band members were accepted to participate in a parade in Hawaii.

The 42 students will perform in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade on Tuesday, Dec. 7. According to the Pearl Harbor Parade website, the parade theme is “Remembering the past and celebrating our future.” The Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade begins at Fort DeRussey in Waikiki.

“We will be marching in the parade like a marching band and will be performing a medley of patriotic tunes,” said Aaron Marshall, band director for the Rigby High School Trojan Band. “It’s the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack and it’s the 80th anniversary.”

Marshall said this is his first year teaching at Rigby High School. He explained to EastIdahoNews.com that the previous band director applied to participate in the parade and they were accepted to represent the state of Idaho by The Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade Committee.

“Every state was given an opportunity to send a marching band to represent all the states,” said Marshall.

There are 93 participants involved in the parade including the Rigby High School Marching Band. There are marching bands representing North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, Utah and elsewhere.

Marshall told EastIdahoNews.com the students will leave Idaho on Monday and return on Friday. While they are in Hawaii, they will visit a Pearl Harbor Museum and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The Rigby High School students fundraised money to help pay for the trip.

“They (the students) are ecstatic. They are just kind of bouncing off the walls, they are so excited to go,” he said.

the band
The Rigby High School Trojan Band.| Courtesy: Aaron Marshall

The event kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Hawaii time with an opening ceremony and the parade begins at 6 p.m.

“At the opening ceremony, all of the marching bands that will be there will be performing together with the Marine band and will be performing the Armed Forces medley,” said Marshall. “On top of that, on Wednesday the 8th, we have the opportunity as just ourselves to perform a mini-concert at the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial at The Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum.”

It’s a trip that Marshall said he will never forget along with his students.

“I’ve done other band trips where we’ve gone and performed in different places but nothing this significant where we get to go and help honor the veterans of World War II and Pearl Harbor. It’s such an honor for us to be selected to go,” said Marshall.

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade is produced annually by Historic Programs. Click here to learn more. The parade will be live-streamed here.

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