Schaumburg band pulls plug on inaugural parade hopes

What was supposed to have been an upbeat, holiday concert on Wednesday at Schaumburg High School, turned into a bit of a wake, as students and their families began the grieving process for what might have been.

For nearly a year, Band Director Kevin Miller has been compiling their application materials for a spot in the presidential inaugural parade on Jan. 20 in Washington D.C.

While the Presidential Inaugural Committee has not officially turned down Schaumburg's marching band, on Wednesday Miller pulled the plug on their bid.

"They kept telling us, 'You're still on the list,'" Miller said, adding that officials kept dangling the possibility of a performance opportunity that might still open up in Washington during the inauguration festivities.

Earlier this month, three Illinois high school bands received bids to perform in the parade: Whitney Young Magnet High School Navy JROTC in Chicago; Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park and Morton High School, near Peoria.

Other Illinois performance groups selected are the Jesse White Tumblers and the Lipizzan horses from Tempel Farms in north suburban Wadsworth. So far, more than 1,000 groups nationwide were turned down during the first wave of acceptances.

Students at Schaumburg High School were disappointed, but said they enjoyed the excitement involved with the application, including the recording session in November at the school.

At that session, the band performed what they would have played in the parade, including "We're An American Band," and the "Troopers Battle Hymn," an arrangement of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" performed by the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps, of Casper, WY.

"It's just cool to think we had our profile was on someone's desk in Washington," said junior trombonist Lindsey Bergman of Schaumburg.

At Wednesday night's concert, Miller began handing back fundraising checks to the parents.

"It was time," Miller said.

But band directors and their musicians never stay down for long. Miller conceded there would be a grieving period over the holiday break, but that they would retool their plans and look at some performance possibilities for the spring.