Tags
Broadway, Cardinal Marching Band, float, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby Festival, Louisville, marching band, music, parade, Pegasus Parade
Most people who go to a parade don’t even think about how the groups participating in the parade prepare, but just cheer them on as they go by. The UofL Marching Band has long participated in the Pegasus Parade which occurs the day before the Kentucky Oaks. The Cardinal Marching Band has a position of honor as the first band in the parade following closely behind the Pegasus float that opens the parade.
While the long march in the sun is fun, it is also tiring after a long day of rehearsal. The Cardinal Marching band met at 10am Thursday morning for a two hour playing and marching rehearsal at the band field. This rehearsal included practicing parade block down the street and blocking traffic for a few minutes.
After a break for lunch the band returned at 1:30 in the band room to fill out paperwork for the parade then change into uniforms and load the busses. Part of the challenge of a parade is arriving to the required position early as streets around the parade start closing. The Cardinal Marching Band arrived in its holding position by 3pm, which meant a two hour wait until the start of the parade.
The two hour wait was spent relaxing in the shade to prepare for the long march in the sun and then fitting in more practice time to work on music.
The 2012 Pegasus Parade was off to a rough start when the wind started making the opening Pegasus float difficult to control, stalling the entire parade for nearly 30 minutes. This meant the band was also stalled in the sun. The band played several songs for the crowd while the parade was stalled. It was great to hear the crowd cheer and enjoy the special attention as band members began interacting with the crowd. One snare drum player even went out and let two lucky kids play his drum for awhile. After a while the band took a break in playing as the heat set in and the wait increased. It was a relief to have the parade start again, but the crowd interaction during the pause was a nice addition to the day.
The decision was made for the parade to continue around the Pegasus float until it could be better controlled, so the Cardinal Marching Band reset the parade block and began marching once again. The rest of the parade went by quickly and the band played the Cardinal Fight Song and Pegasus on Parade for the cheering crowd.
After the final turn off Broadway marking the end of the parade, band members started removing their jackets to cool off and welcomed the offered water bottles and opportunity to sit down and rest once back on the busses.