SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — Members of the Lincoln High School marching band are getting settled back in the classroom following the excitement of their appearance last week in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
But their march through the heart of New York City was accompanied by some stumbling blocks, which included soaked instruments and the sniffles.
Musical instruments are positioned throughout the stage at Lincoln High School’s auditorium, not for any concert, but to dry out.
“Well, I’m not sure you could get much wetter than we got,” Lincoln senior Hannah Basel said.
The band members, their chaperones and volunteers started drying the instruments in their hotel as soon as they finished their rain-soaked parade performance.
“A lot of the woodwinds don’t do very well with water. They could be damaged. But that’s still yet to be seen,” Basel said.
Some of the band’s brand-new uniforms didn’t fare much better.
“The uniforms were actually frozen to each other when we got back. They were soaking wet when we put them in there. We tried to dry them out as best we could, but, frozen together,” Lincoln High School Band Director Drew Balta said.
But the instruments aren’t all that’s on the mend at Lincoln. Many of the band member came to school today feeling a little under the weather.
“I thought I’d made it. But I woke up this morning and I was like darn it! I’m sick,” Basel said.
Band members say there was a bug going around the buses that they took to and from New York. Performing in the cold rain and lack of sleep didn’t help, either. But calling in sick wasn’t an option for many of the students because they had already missed two days of school during their trip.
“I think I just have a little cold. I’m feeling better already today so I don’t think it’s going to last too much longer,” Lincoln senior Aidan Prouty said.
Now the band members are readjusting to their school schedules, focused on their studies with musical memories of New York playing in the background.
“I think it will take some time to set-in what they just accomplished. But I think over the course of the next week or two, they’ll look back and think holy cow! I just did that,” Lincoln High School Band Director Dan Carlson said.
“We all stayed focused, and we stayed determined and we had an amazing parade,” Basel said.
The Lincoln band performed behind the giant balloon of Spider-Man during the parade. Band members say that was only fitting because Spider-Man’s suit is blue and red, the same school colors as the Patriots.
