Friday, October 17, 2008 10:12 PM CDT
CHS band will march again in EIU parade
By DAVE FOPAY and NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writers
editorial@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Laney Grimes remembers being part of marching bands in the Eastern Illinois University homecoming parade when she was in middle school, high school and in college.
Now, a few years after safety concerns caused most high school bands to stay out of the parade, the Charleston High School band director thinks that’s changed to the point where the Marching Trojans can take part once again. She wants her students to have the same, good experience she had, she said.
“I really want my kids to be part of it,” Grimes said. “Eastern has made great strides. I don’t see any reason for us not to be there.”
Bands from CHS along with Cumberland, Paris and Stewardson-Strasburg high schools are scheduled to be among the more than 100 entries in the parade when it starts off at 9:30 this morning. Having four high school bands in the parade hasn’t been the case for years, though there were three last year and two the year before.
High school bands started dropping out of the parade after 2002, the year some bands reported having beer cups thrown at them, lewd behavior and other problems from spectators, especially at student rental housing locations. EIU’s own band was the only one in the parade the following year.
Grimes, who marched in the parade when she was a student at Charleston Middle School, CHS and EIU, said she understands why high school bands haven’t been willing to participate in the parade the last few years. But she noted that last year EIU had escorts who accompanied bands along the parade route.
“That made me feel a lot better,” she said.
She also said some parents of band members plan to march with the group to serve as chaperones.
Last year city police officers were stationed along the parade route in some areas that were the sources of complaints in the past. Two years ago, Mayor John Inyart led an effort to bring more high school bands back to the parade by arranging a band contest with a cash prize.
Grimes also said CHS Principal Diane Hutchins left the decision about the band participating in the parade to her. Last year, Hutchins asked her to wait one more year to see how the parade went before deciding whether CHS should take part, she said.
Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs at EIU, said he is “thrilled” with the return of CHS to the Homecoming parade.
“It adds a great deal to your parade to have your own hometown band,” he said. “They will add a lot of excitement.”
This will be the fourth parade Nadler has been a part of, and he said he is not aware of “any major problems” over the last three years.
“We work closely with the city,” he said, noting that if any police or other officials on the parade route see an incident brewing, “They take care of it right there.”
Nadler also said, “I think we’ve worked very hard on a proactive (approach). We’ve taken very good measures to make this a successful parade.”
Probably another reason some high school bands haven’t been in the Eastern parade is because of band competitions taking place the same day, Grimes also said. Today, the CHS band is scheduled to be at an evening competition in Effingham and there’s another area morning competition in which some bands will participate, she said.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733. Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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