Buena High Band Doesn’t Need to Toot Its Own Horn

Sacrificing movies, parties and beach trips with friends, Buena High School marching band members toiled purposefully over 11 months, holding carwashes, candy and coupon sales, recycling drives and benefit performances.

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Their sights set on participating in this month’s Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, the musicians and color guard raised $35,000 to pay for the $50,000 Canadian trip. The remainder of the funds came from the general band budget and from parents.

Returning Friday to Ventura with a silver medal and fourth-place silver cup in hand made the sacrifices and hard work worthwhile, band members said.

“When you’re in the band program, you give everything to it. You give your life,” said Julie Pampuch, 18, a saxophone player who graduated from Buena High in June. “We sold lots and lots of candy and did lots of carwashes. But it was worth it because we got to go to Calgary for it. It was just an amazing experience. This was the best way to finish up my high school career.

“It was really satisfying because we did the work and got the reward,” she said.

The 75-member band and color guard also devoted hundreds of hours to practicing their craft, including Saturday rehearsals and two full weeks of practice after school ended in June.

“These kids were working all year long,” said Philip Larry, a Buena parent, band booster/treasurer and tour organizer.

Jeff Price, 17, a Buena senior this fall, spent many Saturdays at practices and carwashes.

“Whole Saturdays were gone, and it was a lot of physical work,” said the clarinet and trombone player. “Basically, we were fund-raising all the time with one thing or the other. After awhile, it gets really tiring. I think I sacrificed going to movies and other stuff with my friends, but I knew it was a worthwhile cause. Eventually, we got to Canada, and I was amazed we raised that amount of money. I wish we could go every year.”

More than two dozen bands worldwide convened July 7 at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, an 83-year-old annual rodeo and fair attracting 1.25 million spectators, event officials said. Bands traveled from Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and other nations to perform and compete.

Using a nautical theme in honor of a newly commissioned Canadian ship called Calgary, the Buena group performed 12 times in five days, playing the theme from the movie “Hook” and other seafaring tunes.

Two musicians dressed up as Peter Pan and Captain Hook, two of the movie’s characters, and tossed candy to the parade and stadium crowds, said band director Doug Kadansky.

The band placed fourth among 28 bands in the parade and second in the stadium field-show competition, following California’s Mission Viejo High School. The field show consisted of six bands chosen as the best overall groups at the Stampede.

Standing Friday in the Buena band room decorated with dozens of trophies and plastered with messages of “Pride” and “Think you are the best before you are,” Kadansky said the awards garnered by the band were icing on the cake. “This band’s extremely successful,” Kadansky said. “A field show like this means setting a goal, and seeing these guys succeed in their goal is great. The significance is connected to the amount of work it took to get them ready for it. I knew they could do anything if they set their minds to it.”