Though the National Independence Day Parade in D.C. was called off, hundreds of student musicians from around the country ensured America’s birthday celebration went on by relocating to a venue in Fairfax County.
Four high school bands that had expected to march in the District on Saturday (July 4) as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary festivities instead staged an impromptu concert at the National Museum of the United States Army in Fort Belvoir.
Starting at 4 p.m. in the museum’s lobby, students from Chimacum High School in Washington state, Arcadia High School in California, Appleton East High School in Wisconsin and Boca Raton Community High School in Florida treated visitors to patriotic tunes, including renditions of “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “My Country Tis of Thee.”
Delivering the same routines they would’ve performed in the parade, the musicians were accompanied by color guard members twirling batons, flags and, in the case of the Boca Raton Bobcats, fake rifles.
“For nearly an hour, approximately 307 student musicians from Washington, California, Wisconsin and Florida performed together, transforming an unexpected disappointment into an inspiring celebration of patriotism, resilience and the unifying power of music,” the Chimacum Cowboys Band said in a press release.
Marching bands from schools across the U.S. were invited to participate in the National Independence Day Parade, which aimed to have all 50 states represented. But organizers announced on Friday (July 3) that the event would be canceled due to the extreme heat that was expected to continue baking the region throughout the weekend.
Temperatures in the nation’s capital ultimately hit a high of 103 on Saturday, giving D.C. its hottest Fourth of July since 1872, when National Weather Service data begins, according to Capital Weather. It was the third consecutive record-hot day, made more suffocating by humidity.
Per Capital Weather, the heat index at Dulles International Airport reached 110 on July 4, and on Friday, July 3, in some parts of the region, it felt as hot as 115 degrees.
The heat also prompted Fairfax City to cancel its Independence Day Parade, which was scheduled to take place Saturday morning as part of the city’s 60th annual Fourth of July celebrations. It would’ve featured a “patriotic flyover” and a special helium balloon for the U.S.’s 250th anniversary.
Considering they had traveled over 2,700 miles and put plenty of effort into fundraising for the week-long trip, the Chimacum Cowboys Band leaders didn’t want their students to return home without getting to showcase their musical talents.
“All the kids were just really sad,” Jackson Colcord, a communications manager and band booster for Chimacum, said of the reaction to the cancellation. “They came out to D.C. to perform.”
So, after learning about the D.C. parade’s cancellation, they began brainstorming potential alternatives with another school staying at the same hotel.
The presence of the Great American State Fair and strict permitting requirements quickly shut down the possibility of a flash mob-style concert on the National Mall, prompting organizers to start “thinking outside of the box,” even contacting their Congressional representatives for assistance.
While the students explored the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum on the morning of July 4, Colcord and Chimacum Cowboys Band director Daniel Ferland got on their phones and laptops and scoured the area for potential venues. Eventually, they landed on the Army Museum as a promising option, given its spacious lobby.
When no one picked up the phone, Colcord gave the keys to his rental car to a parent accompanying the band on its trip and asked if they could drive down to the museum to see if they would allow an impromptu concert. The plan then started to coalesce through phone calls and “a giant text group” that at one point included seven different schools, Colcord told FFXnow.
“For one reason or another, a few backed out, but there were the core four that were like, ‘Absolutely, let’s do this,'” he said. “… I was just like, ‘Wow, this is magical, so let’s get as many people as we can get to come see these kids perform.’ And we literally threw this whole thing together in two hours.”
In addition to the band leaders, the concert was made possible by the Army Museum’s support and help from U.S. Rep. Emily Randall (D-Washington), who represents the 6th Congressional District, including Chimacum, a small community on the Olympic Peninsula northwest of Seattle. Her office helped coordinate the event.
While some people suggested the bands should all perform together, Colcord says that would’ve been logistically impossible, since in some cases, the musicians exchanged instruments and equipment. Chimacum borrowed a baritone saxophone from the Arcadia Apaches, for example, while lending a drum to the Boca Raton Bobcats.
The result was a musical gathering energized by the unifying spirit that was supposed to define the nationwide semiquincentennial celebrations, which marked the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
According to Colcord, some of the 37 Chimacum students on the trip reported unexpectedly making friends from other schools, and the sight of flag holders or drum majors teaching each other different moves had the adults in tears.
Along with exchanging phone numbers, students traded pins that the bands had designed in advance of the trip for just that purpose.
“We were just in such awe of … the spirit of everything behind it,” Colcord said. “Four corners of the United States, because we had Washington, California, Wisconsin and Florida, all just coming together to make something magical happen so that our kids can still come to D.C. to do what they came there to do.”
