Tonight, the Golden Knights marched and competed with about 21 other bands in the West Chester Christmas Parade. They placed 5th in music and 12th overall, so congratulations to all for a solid performance! This post contains some photos of the Golden Knights participating in the parade.
Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive in West Chester's Christmas Parade
Introduction
The West Chester Christmas Parade is sponsored by QVC, The Chester County Chamber of Commerce, and a number of other local corporations. This was the 39th year that the parade has been held. The announcers said that it brings about half a million dollars of revenue into town for local businesses, and that 6,000 people participated in the parade. It seems like the crowd at the parade gets a bit bigger every year, and it's starting to become quite the local tradition.
Also, if you have the QVC TV network, you may want to check it out on Christmas Day. I understand that they will be rebroadcasting the parade for the holiday.
Last year's parade had about 40,000 in the audience. I'm not sure how many were there this year, but it seemed like a big crowd from where I was standing. With temperatures in the 40s, the weather couldn't have been better. The parade opened with a vocal performance of It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas by Catie Turner. She's a resident of nearby Bucks County, and is known for her recent performances on the American Idol TV show. While she sang, dancers from several high schools and the West Chester University of PA joined her with a choreographed performance on the parade route.
The parade started at 7:15 PM, with Rustin about half way between the front and rear. The Golden Knights passed the judging area (where I was standing) at about 8:15. The parade ended at about 9:15 with West Chester University's Incomparable Golden Rams Marching Band and - of course - Santa Claus.
Here are some photos of Rustin's marching band as they passed into the judging area. All are original pictures that were taken with an LG-G4 cell phone. You can right-click and open any of the photos in a new tab for a better view.
I tried to get photos of the banners that each of the marching bands were carrying, but with the crowd and glare from the lighting, many turned out to be difficult or impossible to see. Here is what I could manage to get of the Golden Knights' banner.
After the banner, the flag section appeared. They were dressed for the season.
After the flags, the drum major and woodwind section appeared.
And the woodwinds were followed by saxophones and brass instruments
With the drum line bringing setting the pace from behind
So I think that's just about it for the marching band season. Next up is the end of December, when the band will travel from Pennsylvania to Florida and march in the Citrus Bowl Parade and Disney's Magic Kingdom. (Your up-votes will help reimburse the band boosters for some of the costs of that trip!)
Even though that's the end of the band's (pre-Disney) activities this year, we still have some photo essays to post from football games, and we'll probably have some videos and photos from other bands in this parade, so check back soon!
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