CHIMACUM — The money needed to send the Chimacum High School band to Hawaii for the Pearl Harbor Day parade this year is almost in hand after a summer full of fundraisers, and organizers are hoping a Sunday event will push the group over the top.
Only $8,000 of the $70,000 needed to send 59 students to the Dec. 7 commemorative parade is outstanding, according to Principal Whitney Meissner.
Karen Brennan, who has two children in the band, said the students already have benefited from the process.
“The kids have worked so hard to get to this,” Brennan said.
“They’ve put in a ton of teamwork, and it’s been wildly successful.
“We’ve made this happen because we are a small community with a big heart, and the journey to this will be as valuable to the kids as the trip itself.”
“The community has responded to this because they recognize it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the kids,” Meissner said.
“This is a great honor because we are representing the whole state.”
Lone representative
The school is the only one in the state sending a band to the parade.
Since accepting the invitation in May, the school has conducted pie sales, held fundraisers and developed a youth labor program where band members perform odd jobs and contribute their wages to the cause.
Sponsors hope to reach the final goal with a fundraiser from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot adjacent to the Pourhouse, 2231 Washington St. in Port Townsend.
The event includes performances by the high school band at 3 p.m., followed by Rhythm Planet, with the Unexpected Brass Band playing before, in between and after the headliners.
Aside from the performers, several fundraising concessions will be on hand, with a keg of Silver City Brewery’s Ziggy Zoggy Summer Lager that will be sold for $20 a pint as part of the fundraiser.
Also on a raffle table will be two all-expenses-paid fishing trips to Alaska, each with a $2,000 value.
Rain or shine
Tents will be constructed to allow the event to occur rain or shine.
At the Pearl Harbor Day parade, the band will play four selections: “Sousa!,” “America the Beautiful,” “Requiem for a Soldier” and “God Bless America,” which it will perform in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific Band.
“The band took these choices very seriously,” Meissner said of the song selections.
“They wanted to play the right music to perform during this formal service to commemorate this very significant and tragic day.”
For more information, email karenlpbrennan@yahoo.com.
Direct contributions can be sent to the Chimacum Band Boosters Association, P.O. Box 631, Chimacum, WA 98325.
Contributions brought to the school at 91 West Valley Road can get a receipt for tax purposes, Meissner said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
