Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Forty-one Worland High School marching band members and eight parental chaperones are on their way to New Orleans with band director Frank Harding.
The group left Worland Tuesday night to head to Denver and flew to New Orleans on Wednesday. On Friday they will march in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Parade and then Saturday will perform with other bands for the halftime show.
Harding said, “I knew that the students enjoyed the Holiday Bowl in San Diego last time we took a trip (2018), so I wanted to choose another Bowl Game this year. It came down to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and the Cheezit Bowl in Orlando. I ended up choosing the Sugar Bowl primarily because I knew that it would be more affordable for many of our families compared to Orlando. I wanted to make this trip as accessible to as many students as I could.”
He added, “We announced the trip to New Orleans in February of 2021, but we’ve been fundraising in some way since the last trip ended.”
Harding said the parade begins at 2:30 p.m. (Central Standard Time) on Friday, Dec. 30, and will be covered live by New Orleans station WDSU. “The band should have a 90-second feature at some point during the parade,” he said. “We are performing our school song, “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy, and “Brick House” by the Commodores for the parade.”
The 89th Allstate Sugar Bowl, with No. 5 Alabama versus No. 9 Kansas State begins at 10 a.m. (Mountain Standard Time) on Saturday, Dec. 31, on ESPN. Harding said that the halftime show is a joint performance with eight other bands attending the Bowl Game.
The halftime show for the Sugar Bowl is “Top Gun,” so the bands will be playing music from “Top Gun: Maverick.”
In addition to rehearsals, the parade and halftime show, the group also has some sightseeing planned. The band’s itinerary includes a swamp boat tour, Mardi Gras World, a haunted walking tour of the French Quarter and the National World War II Museum.