301-strong: Wyoming State Marching Band preps in Powell

Posted 7/2/15

The band members, ages 14-17, pay their own way to camp at Northwest College in Powell to be blended into a marching unit. The payoff? They will march in the Cody Stampede Parade Friday and Saturday, as well as two days at Cheyenne Frontier Days and …

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301-strong: Wyoming State Marching Band preps in Powell

Posted

Four days of rehearsing and 301 students from all over the state will debut in the Cody Stampede Parade this week as the Wyoming All State Marching Band.

The band members, ages 14-17, pay their own way to camp at Northwest College in Powell to be blended into a marching unit. The payoff? They will march in the Cody Stampede Parade Friday and Saturday, as well as two days at Cheyenne Frontier Days and in the Rose Parade at Pasadena, California, on New Year’s Day.

Temperatures in the 90s don’t keep the band off the street. They marched in west Powell for two hours Tuesday evening.

“It’s really hot, but the kids are doing just great. They’re hard workers and real go-getters,” said Dan Holroyd, director of bands at Cheyenne East High School, who heads the WASMB.

“The college is giving us indoor space in the afternoons for cooler practice, and that really helps,” Holroyd said.

It’s Wyoming, so the band relies on traditional Western music like “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and “Theme from the Magnificent Seven.”

“We’ll have a patriotic song for Cody on the Fourth if we can get it prepared in time,” Holroyd said.

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