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A golden performance
By DONNA WINCHESTER © St. Petersburg Times, published April 8, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- The Grand Rapids (Minn.) High School band was marching down Central Avenue in Saturday's Festival of States parade when a woman stepped off the sidewalk and waved to the band director. "Are you the band from Minnesota?" she asked. "The one that had the problems getting your instruments here?" Band director Mark Saiger told her that the group of 147 students, dressed in black from head to toe, was indeed the band from Grand Rapids. Rebecca Rowland and her fiance, Gary Dishman, told Saiger they came to the parade especially to see the band. They thanked him for bringing the students to St. Petersburg. Rowland and Dishman weren't the only ones who were impressed. The band drew whistles and cheers all along the route. People called out and snapped pictures. Children danced on the sidelines along with the color guard. And Saturday afternoon, after the last of 10 bands completed the parade route, the Minnesota group learned they had won first place among the bands in the Festival of States parade. The band members had arrived in Florida with 15 chaperones and about a dozen friends and family members shortly before noon Tuesday. It was 23 degrees when they left Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, 3 1/2 hours south of Grand Rapids. They have been having a "trip experience" since then, trying to fit as many things into their short stay as possible, Saiger said. They have spent a lot of time rehearsing, including a short practice session on the beach behind their hotel Tuesday afternoon and a longer jazz band rehearsal Tuesday night. Early Wednesday morning, they piled back into the buses that brought them from Tampa International Airport and headed to the Eckerd College campus, where they practiced their marching and field show performance until noon. When Saiger and band co-director Dale Gunderson realized Thursday morning that the Coliseum was too small for the show they had prepared for Friday night's coronation pageant and ball, they wrote a new one. The band members worked for three hours Friday morning to perfect the 8-minute show. Between rehearsals, they savored Florida with an appreciation rarely shown by locals. They tasted new food. They explored the beaches and souvenir shops. They were surprised at times, but always delighted by what they discovered. Eric Hoolihan, 16, was amazed that he could wear shorts every day. "You wake up in the morning and it's 60 degrees," he said. "It hasn't been 60 degrees at home for five months." He said he loved the air's salty smell and the warm gulf water. He collected sand to take home with him and bought sand dollars to remind him of the beach when he is back in Minnesota. Like many Grand Rapids students, Josh Eckert was visiting Florida for the first time. He said he hadn't expected to find so many nice people in a "big city" like St. Petersburg. The 19-year-old senior, who plans to become a diesel mechanic, learned there is a John Deere school in Florida. He said he might have to look into transferring. Sam Miltich, 16, also was in Florida for the first time. He had never been farther south than Iowa and said he was "in shock" at how different things are here. "All the trees are so different, and there's green grass in April," he said. "I didn't know you could find shells from the ocean just lying on the beach." The group took time out from rehearsing and sunning Wednesday afternoon to visit Busch Gardens. Nate Kroshus, 17, rode his first roller coaster. Tiffany Junker, also 17, saw her first dolphin. Early Thursday morning, the students performed in the out-of-state bands concert and jazz evaluation at the Palladium Theater. The band's only competition was the Skyview High School band from Vancouver, Wash., but Gunderson said competing isn't about beating out one band or 10 bands to win an award. "They have a case of trophies back in Grand Rapids," he said. "They don't remember the trophies, they remember the trip, the fun they had playing music together." Late Thursday afternoon, the students, in "dressy casual" attire, boarded a dinner-dance cruise boat. They posed for pictures and compared notes on the souvenirs they had bought. By 10 p.m., they were in the Coliseum parking lot waiting for their cue to enter the arena. No one seemed nervous, even though the show was brand new. "We have great instructors and they make it easy to learn new things," Katie Mayo, 17, said. Back in the parking lot after an enthusiastic audience response, Saiger gathered the students together and congratulated them on an excellent performance. Then he told them he had some sad news. The school principal had called to say that a teacher at their school had been killed earlier in the day in a machinery accident. Smiles faded and faces froze in shock and surprise. Saiger asked the students to keep the man's family in their thoughts as they boarded the tour buses to go back to their hotel. He told them to go straight to bed so they would perform at their best in the parade the next morning. The students didn't let him down. "You guys are spectacular, just spectacular," Saiger said as the students gulped water at the end of the parade route. He sent them off to the after-parade field show with a reminder that it would be their last performance for the people of St. Petersburg. Again, they turned in an impressive performance, drawing cheers from the crowd. No one knew some of them were considering cutting their Florida trip short so they could attend a teacher's funeral in Minnesota. As soon as the field show was over, the band members returned their instruments to the Ryder truck that Grand Rapids High School track coach Darrin Hofstad and his wife, Andrea, had driven to St. Petersburg last week. They had filled in at the last minute when the instruments would not fit into the plane. The band members boarded the now familiar tour buses and headed to Orlando and Disney World, where they planned to relax for a few days without their instruments. They will fly back to northern Minnesota on Tuesday.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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