For two hours, the Freedom High School Marching Patriot Band tooted their horns and beat drums to thank the sponsors who helped them.
By RODNEY THRASH
Published March 19, 2004
TAMPA PALMS - Some people say thank you with a card.
Others express their gratitude in person or over the phone.
The Freedom High School Marching Patriot Band?
Well, take a listen.
"1-2-3-4," the drum major signals to the 65-member group, a sea of scarlet red, navy blue and white uniforms.
They lift their knees to their chests. They stomp their feet. And they march, horns blaring, cymbals clashing and drums booming. Not on a football field, mind you. But on already congested Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. During rush hour. In the rain.
Barely 2 years old, Freedom High School expects to add 45 new band members during the 2004-05 school year. But the Hillsborough County School District only bought enough uniforms for 100 students. Some were large. Others were medium-sized. A lot of them were small.
"All the small ones are still sitting there," said Terry Wolford, who handles public relations and fundraising for the FHS Marching Patriot Booster Club. "We had to go and buy some new ones."
At $300 per uniform, a car wash and candy sale weren't going to bring in the kind of dough they needed. So the band members separated into groups and went door-to-door soliciting support from businesses such as Lifestyle Family Fitness and Florida Executive Realty.
It wasn't until a November ride down Bruce B. Downs that one of Wolford's "wild ideas" emerged. She noticed all the joggers and inline skaters gliding by on the pedestrian path when it hit her: How about thanking all the sponsors by having band members hold huge placards with the businesses' names in bold, gaudy letters?
"Everybody would see it," she thought. And "our kids love to march. Why don't we march so everybody sees us?"
Not everyone was as enthusiastic. "There were grumblings and rumblings," said Pat Todd, secretary of the booster club.
Some thought the idea was plum crazy.
"At first, yeah," conceded second-year band member Riley Passmore, chuckling. "Later, I thought it'd be pretty cool."
For two hours, Passmore and his bandmates beat drums, blew horns and danced Monday. It was hard for afternoon commuters not to notice. Tampa police officers blocked intersections. Cars were stuck at green lights. Drivers honked their horns.
Some rolled down their windows and rooted the marching band on. And despite oncoming traffic, there were some who came to a complete halt so they could watch the parade of poncho-clad musicians.
A group of firefighters at Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 20 got their own personal serenade halfway through the 3-kilometer route.
"If this doesn't get people's attention, I don't know what will," said Passmore, who carried a white, red and blue banner and led his bandmates from City Plaza to the Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.
Sponsors said they appreciated the gesture.
"It gives you chills watching the kids," said Ray Koenig, president of a business called "the kid's room bedroom furniture." The business donated money toward the purchase of a uniform. "It's raining (and) they're still out here playing."
Still, whatever happened to a simple, old-fashioned "thank you?'
