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Music Fills the Streets at Arcadia Festival of Bands (Photos)

Thirty-nine schools participate in marching band parade competition on the streets of Arcadia

Music filled the streets Saturday as high school marching bands from as far away as Cupertino competed in The 58th Annual Arcadia Festival of Bands.

The 39 participating bands marched down Baldwin Avenue and Duarte Road in front of hundreds of spectators and a panel of judges from the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association. The Festival is the longest running of its kind in Southern California. The music, general effect and visual elements of the performance were all judged.

This year’s grand marshal was teacher of the year Talmage Jones.

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“I thought that there were a lot of performances that every school would look at and go, ‘That was our best work.’ That’s what you hope for anytime we do something like this,” Landes said.

Because Arcadia schools hosted the event, they marched but were not part of the actual competition. That didn’t stop the students from enjoying it.

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Tom Landes, the band director at , wore a bright red jacket and a top hat for his role as starter in the parade. He as pleased with the event.

Adry Hardiman, a ninth-grader who plays baritone for AHS, grinned as he recalled seeing the parade go near his house as a 7-year-old a couple of years after immigrating from Indonesia.

“My whole dream when I moved here, I saw the Arcadia Apaches and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s the band I want to be in and I’m going to be in soon!’” he remembered. He said the actual experience has surpassed his expectations and had fun seeing friends and old teachers cheer as they marched by.

For Michelle Casas, a ninth grader on the pep squad, the highlight of the parade was when she heard the crowd cheering as she was tossed in the air and did the splits.

“I think we did pretty well,” she said. “Everyone was cheering and we had a really good time.”

Booster Club

The program is organized by the Arcadia Music Club, which is the booster club for the instrumental music program at Arcadia High School. Betsy Burcham, chair of the planning committee, said about 400 volunteers help pull the event off. The proceeds from the event support the band, orchestra and color guard programs at Arcadia schools.

“We hope to clear $2,500-3,000,” Burcham said. “It’s not a lot considering all the work that goes into it, but it’s more the tradition at this point.”

Many of the parents that volunteer, including Burcham, are parents of alumni of the program who continue to be involved long after their children graduate.

“[The music program] was such a great experience for their kids and they realize the value of having music education in the schools, which with all the budget cuts is sometimes being cut from schools,” Burcham said. She also cited the program as a place to for students to connect to a smaller community within a large school.

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