With a little help from area businesses, Tucson is going to take Manhattan by storm next fall.
The Falcon Marching Band from Catalina Foothills High School has been invited to the 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — the nationally televised extravaganza that traditionally kicks off the holiday season.
The Falcons are believed to be the first Tucson-area high school band ever invited to participate in the event.
Getting an invitation to the parade is quite an honor for the Falcons, the largest high school marching band in the state.
Now band boosters need to work on the financing. It's going to cost about $334,000 to send the big band to the Big Apple.
That's $1,325 for each of the 252 members of the band. Other school personnel and chaperons also will attend.
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A major fund-raising event is coming up on March 10: a "March on Manhattan" gathering at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. Tickets are $50 for the reception, with hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, and a silent auction.
The event, from 6 to 10 p.m., includes desserts, coffee and performances by three Falcon ensembles — the steel drum band, the jazz combo and the flute choir.
"The local business community has really stepped up to help us," says Linda Johnson, who chairs the March on Manhattan committee with her husband, Brian. They are the parents of Chelsea, a 15-year-old sophomore who is a member of the pompom troupe.
"To our knowledge, no other Tucson band has ever performed" in the Macy's event, Johnson added. The parade started in the 1920s as a promotion for the famed department store and its Christmas-season window displays.
The Loews gathering is the last major fund-raiser planned for the Manhattan project, Johnson says, and the expenses must be covered by May. Airfare, hotels, meals and other expenses must be paid for well in advance. The school's band director also must make several trips to New York before November to confer with parade officials about the Falcons' performance.
The event sponsor is Loews Ventana Canyon. Other donations have come from The Estes Co., Sakura restaurant, AlphaGraphics, Tucson Lifestyle magazine, Clear Channel, Metro Restaurants, Sleep America, Thigpen Jewelers and Marshall's Jewelers. Golf packages at Loews and the Westin La Paloma and JW Marriott Starr Pass resorts are part of the auction, Johnson says, as are a Florida vacation package and hotel stays around the country.
Further donations to the auction are welcome; call the Johnsons at 749-5520.
The Loews event is "the big one" to raise funds for the New York trip, says Mary Beth Spiece, president of the band boosters. Her son, Trey, 17, is a junior and one of three drum majors.
The boosters hope 400 people will show up for the event.
The Falcons' appearance in the Macy's parade will be a source of pride for Tucson and the state. Backing the band by attending the Loews event or in other ways demonstrates Tucson's appreciation of the teens' efforts.
Opinion by
Richard Ducote