Two years removed from a performance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Pittsburg High School marching band is gearing up for another big trip.
This time, the band is headed to the Gator Bowl college football game in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 2, followed by a performance at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando the following day.
"It's a good way to give the program exposure," band director Jennifer Martinez said. "It'll be a different performing atmosphere for our kids, who are used to performing at home football games."
The idea of a long trip to play and compete with other bands for awards began under longtime director Orrin Cross when the band performed at the 1995 Carquest Bowl in Florida and the 1997 Insight Bowl in Arizona.
Cross retired in 1998, and two successors took the band to Hawaii and on a couple of trips to Disneyland.
But when Martinez, a 2000 Pittsburg High graduate and former band member, took over as director five years ago, she decided to offer her students the same experience she had participating in a bowl trip.
Martinez applied unsuccessfully to the New Year's Day Rose Parade the past two years, but her application to the Gator Bowl came through this year.
Parents are expected to pay for airfare and lodging and other expenses of about $1,600, and the band's booster club will cover the cost of meals, transportation for the instruments via UPS and perhaps the band's luggage fees, said Martinez's father, Tony, who heads the booster club. For cost reasons, only 84 of the 160 band members have committed to making the trip, Jennifer Martinez said.
"Finding the money has been really tough because of how financially difficult it is for families and for the community now," she said.
The booster club is leading a fundraising drive to help keep the parents' costs down.
Band members sell food at home football games and on the Pittsburg High campus during breaks.
Boosters sell band-related merchandise, such as T-shirts, seat cushions and a calendar, as well as Christmas wreaths, Tony Martinez said. The band also provides volunteers for Pittsburg's Seafood Festival in September, which grants stipends to community groups that help out.
Being a band member sometimes becomes a way of life for the student musicians, and the travel gives them an even greater bond with the program, Tony Martinez said.
"The kids love it," he said. "The band room is like their home away from home."
Junior Abraham Padilla, 15, made the journey to New York with the band during his freshman year and said he's up to date with his payments for the Florida trip.
"I remember the night before we played in the Thanksgiving parade, I couldn't sleep I was so excited," he said. "I'm really looking forward to touring and playing again."
how to help
Donations to the Pittsburg High School marching band can be made by visiting the Pittsburg Band Boosters website at pittsburgpiratesmusic.org and clicking the Make a Donation button at the bottom of the home page.