A Not-So-Flowery Festival

Courtesy of VHHS Rebel Marching Band Instagram

The media below contains the opinion of an individual student and therefore does not represent or speak to the values of Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills City Schools.

Every year, in the nation's capital of Washington, D.C., a festival is held to celebrate the blooming of the city's cherry blossom trees and the coming of spring. However, the festival is not just a commemoration of joy and growth; rather, it has deeper historical meaning that goes back over a century into the past. In 1885, writer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore suggested that cherry trees be planted in the area that is now Washington D.C. So, in 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki from Tokyo, Japan, gifted 3,020 cherry blossom trees of different species to the U.S. in order to strengthen peaceful relations. On March 27 of that same year, First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda planted two trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin. Since 1927, the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival has been held in the city.

During World War II, tensions between the two countries obviously became strained, and it seemed as if the festival had lost its meaning. However, in 1965, Japan once again gifted upwards of 3,000 trees to the city of Washington D.C., marking a turning point in U.S.-Japan relations that would start an era of friendship and peace that still continues today. Now, this festival attracts over a million people, featuring cultural performances, a surge in tourism, and of course, the famous parade.

This April, the Vestavia Hills Rebel Marching Band under the direction of Dr. Jerell Horton and Assistant Director Heather Palmer was invited to perform at the head of the parade. The band has previously been invited to play in the 2010 London New Year's Day Parade, the 2018 Dublin St. Patrick's Day Parade, and the 2024 Rome New Year's Day Parade, so this year's parade was no challenge for these experienced performers.

No great performance comes without preparation. When Vestavia students came back to school the week after spring break, most of them were groggily waking up at 7 or 8 AM to drag themselves to class right before the first bell rang. Not the marching band, though. The students performing in the D.C. parade were already on the football field bright and early, marching drill sets and practicing runs of music before the sun had risen. Under the supervision of head drum major Autumn Berry, side drum majors Wells Sheheane and Sadie Norris, as well as field captains William Pitts and Ruth Graham, the band gradually began to shape back into performance mode as the weeks went on.

Soon it was time for the trip to begin. The juniors and seniors of the band had traveled with the band before. When they were freshmen and sophomores, respectively, many of them went to Rome, Italy, to play in a chilly and arduous parade through the streets of the city. Many members, including yours truly, don't look upon that trip too fondly: anyone who went will tell you about how we had pasta with red sauce for almost every meal, and how people were coming down with the flu left and right. That being said, it was still a truly amazing experience to see the sights of Rome and get to travel overseas with friends. Nevertheless, the start of the D.C. trip was exciting for each and every person. For the younger students, it would be their first parade with a high school marching band; for the older ones, it would be their last. At 5 AM on Wednesday, April 8th, over a hundred students, chaperones, and teachers loaded up four charter buses and headed off for the nation's capital.

The first day was spent on the bus. Some people were being proactive and making up their homework for the next three days. Others were talking to their friends, scrolling on their phones, or simply watching the scenery outside. However, I think I can speak for most people when I say the majority were simply trying to catch up on sleep. I, for one, didn't go to bed any earlier the night before. In fact, the hours I should have normally been asleep were spent packing after misjudging how long it would take to find everything I needed. We stopped at West Town Mall for lunch, and an exit in Staunton, Virginia for dinner, then hit the road one final time before reaching our Hilton hotel near the capital.

The next two days were full of iconic spots throughout the capital:

• Arlington National Cemetery - At the cemetery, we were able to witness the changing of the guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the graves of President John F. Kennedy and his family, as well as the beautiful final resting place of thousands of honored soldiers who had fought to defend the country's freedom in the Civil War, both World Wars, and more.

• Smithsonian Museums - Featuring museums such as the Air and Space Museum, Museum of American History, Museum of Natural History, as well as famous places like the Smithsonian Castle, National Zoo, and Smithsonian Gardens, the band spent most of its mornings and afternoons in this complex. I particularly enjoyed visiting the Museum of African-American History and Culture, with its juxtaposition between celebrated African-American music on the third floor and the tragedy of slavery in the basement. I also loved going to the National Archives, which is where the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are now stored and preserved. Unfortunately, we had to go through these museums very quickly in order to move on to other sights, but they were still great to visit.

• Dinner Cruise - On Thursday night, the band loaded onto a cruise that sailed on the Potomac River. The highlight of the cruise was the DJ, and after a hearty dinner, many students formed a lively group in the middle of the floor while the DJ played different songs. Everyone else either stayed at their tables or went to the outside section of the cruise. I, and I'm sure many other people, were never in one place for long, and it was definitely a riveting night to kick off our trip.

• Memorials - On Friday night, a tour guide led each bus group through different memorials. First, we visited a unique World War II memorial, featuring a fountain in the middle with wreathed pillars in a circle around it for each state and territory. Next was the Vietnam War memorial, a black marble wall with the names of the thousands of soldiers who died on it. Since I had recently learned about the controversial history of this war, this memorial felt much more significant to me. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War didn't have the approval of the majority of the public at the time. As a result, people often disrespected the veterans who fought in the war, even though many of the soldiers themselves frowned upon their required involvement. Many of the people whose names ended up on the memorial wall died for a war that seemed like it was destroying freedom, not spreading it. However, that makes it extra important to understand that their sacrifice was just as admirable as every other soldier. We finished out the night by walking through the Korean War memorial and seeing the famous Lincoln Memorial, named after one of the most praised presidents in American history.

On Saturday, it was finally time to perform. We began the day by arriving early to practice for our standstill performance. Three bands, including us, had been specially invited to play in a designated area that would be nationally televised. After a few speedy reps of seamlessly integrating the standstill performance into our parade marching, we took a 2-hour break to relax. My section, the mellophones, spent most of the time taking different group photos, some of them mildly dangerous, but it was a fun bonding time nevertheless. The break passed quickly, and soon it was time for us to don our plumed hats and get in position. Probably one of the most amusing parts of this trip was that instead of natural pink petals flying in the air above us, we only saw colored paper strips. It turned out that the cherry blossoms had bloomed over a week before the festival, so the whole cherry blossom backdrop was absent this year. However, we would still do our best to make this year's Pink Paper Festival a memorable one. Our band opened up this year's national festival with an upbeat classic: Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Cheers rang out from the crowd and vibrant sounds filled the streets of Washington D.C. as bands behind us began to add to the crescendo of festival music. But just as quickly as we started, the parade was already over. In only about half an hour, we had reached the end of the parade route, but everyone was exhausted from nonstop playing. All in all, it was a success for the Rebel Marching Band, and we ended our last night in D.C. at Dave and Buster's.

Our marching band might be done for this year, but our concert bands have already been hard at work for the Spring Concert! As per usual, we've got a brilliant selection of pieces from the Freshman Band, Symphonic Winds, and Wind Symphony that will certainly be exciting to hear, so make sure to come and see us on May 1st!