Strike up the bands

Molly Shore

When the Hempfield Area High School Spartan Marching Band of

Greensburg, Pa. -- one of the premier high school marching bands in

the country -- decided to be part of this year’s Burbank on Parade,

parade president Sally Hooper had just one word to say about the

honor: “Wow!”

She said the band chartered its own plane to fly here at a cost of

$500,000. Band members raised the money throughout the year by

selling submarine sandwiches in their community, she said.

This year’s parade, themed “Music Makes the World Go Round,” will

be well represented by musical groups April 26. Marching bands from

Burbank and Alhambra high schools, and John Muir, Luther Burbank and

Lancaster Challenger middle schools will participate. Drum squads

from Glendale’s Hoover High School and Wilson Middle School will also

play in the parade, and the John Burroughs High School cheerleaders

will march with the Burbank and Burroughs Alumni Band.

Local groups in the parade include the Boys and Girls Club of

Burbank, AYSO Soccer, more than 350 Girl Scouts, the Burbank School

of Ballet and the Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn., which is redoing

one of its parade floats for the event, Hooper said.

The Burbank Beauties, women 50 or older who are members of the

Joslyn Adult Center’s Red Hat Society, will ride in a vintage

Moreland bus on loan from the Burbank Historical Society, center

director Gayle Migden said.

“In our red hats and purple outfits, we should be one of the most

colorful groups in the parade,” Migden said.

At the end of the parade, festivities will continue at George Izay

Park with a crafts fair, Hooper said.

The Spartan Marching Band will perform a 15-minute concert,

followed by an awards ceremony and talent show, she said.