VENTURA : Band Chosen for Festival in Canada

Buena High School band members usually play concerts sitting down or marching. But this summer they will be joining a stampede.

The band is one of only 15 from outside Canada invited to perform in the Calgary Stampede, a 10-day annual rodeo and street festival in Calgary, Canada, that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.

But to rope in this opportunity, band members each have to pay about $450 for the trip.

And some teen-age musicians are having trouble rounding up the money.

Of the 130 students in the high school’s concert band, parade band, marching band and color guard, only about 85 have made the $100 deposit for the trip that the group will make July 8-15.

The band learned only late last month that it had been chosen to play at the festival, although some students began raising money earlier in anticipation of the honor.

By holding carwashes, selling candy and hawking gift-wrapping paper, the students earn cash that is put into a common bank account but credited only to the teen-agers who participate in the drives.

Some band members said they have been unable to raise much money and are unsure they will be able to make the trip.

“I’m still trying,” said 14-year-old Misty Thurlow, a saxophone player who has raised about $50. She added that her parents would be unable to supplement the money she raises. “We can’t afford it.”

Besides the financial hurdles, some students are planning to skip the trip because they will be attending summer school, band director Doug Kadansky said.

He said he hopes as many students as possible will go, not only to have the experience of traveling and playing in another country but also to meet band members from Japan, France and elsewhere who will also perform at the event.

Taking students on such trips is “probably the best thing you can do for a teen-ager,” he said.

To donate money for the trip, send checks to the Buena High School Band, 5670 Telegraph Road, Ventura, 93003.