BIDDEFORD – Band uniforms more than 30 years old are finding a new purpose thanks to efforts to get the Biddeford High School Marching band up and running after a 10-year hiatus.
Jessica Johnson, a BHS class of 2000 graduate, has been part of the movement to bring the band back to the school and was asked to use her creative skills to do something with the 20 old uniforms.
Strewn about the craft room in her Biddeford home recently were slivers of orange and black fabric and a box stacked with about five completed pillows made from the uniforms, which may be purchased for $50 each.
“There are numbers inside each uniform – I was 3,” said Johnson, a marching band alum.
Johnson said back in summer 2018 she wrote a letter to Mayor Alan Casavant, asking why Biddeford didn’t have a marching band.
“Caz was fabulous and sent the letter to (Superintendent) Jeremy Ray,” Johnson said. “The rest is history.”
“We are excited by all of the work that boosters, staff, students and parents are doing to make sure that our students have this opportunity back again,” Ray said. “Over my time here in Biddeford, I have felt it very important to make sure that the marching band was restored for our students. It is my understanding that it went away about 10 years ago and was something that the community had very good memories about. I want to make sure that this once great program is back in our school and that students get a chance to participate.”
Karen Chasse, community outreach and development director with the Biddeford and Dayton school departments, said about $40,000 is expected to be allocated for marching band, if and when the school budget is approved by voters in June. About $30,000 will have to be raised to make up the rest of the cost, with help from Biddeford Education Foundation and other fundraisers.
From noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 30, proceeds from a portion of arcade sales at Jimmy the Greek’s will go to the effort; from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, a spaghetti dinner fundraiser will be held at Steve White Gym, with a performance by the Alumni Band, of which Johnson is a member.
Johnson said marching band provided her with some of her most cherished memories and friends.
“Being a band member were some of the best years of my life,” she said. “There’s something about the connections you have with musicians that is very different from what you have with other friends. A music teacher once told me that music is a universal language – everybody in the world understands the same music.”
Chasse anticipates about securing 40 students to join marching band; the program is also open to students from school districts that do not have a band. Johnson’s son, a student at BHS, is a trumpet player like her and was recently accepted into honor band.
“It’s very important for children to have a well rounded education,” Johnson said. “When music is involved, you educate both sides of your brain. My son will be involved but I feel the community and students deserve to have those experiences and that education that I was lucky enough to have.”
Part of the cost of reviving the marching band includes purchasing uniforms – which cost $500 each – and some instruments. High school band programs often purchase shows that include choreography for band and color guard members, drills and music.
The goal is to have the band on Waterhouse Field by September.
“There will be challenges but it’s all being pulled together much quicker than anticipated,” Johnson said, adding that marching bands typically perform at halftime during football games, march in parades and compete on the state level with other high schools.
Students in the first year of a program such as marching band will probably experience growing pains that future classes will not, Johnson said.
“The following years those students who already know what they’re doing will become mentors,” she said.
Chasse agreed, adding that once funding is in place and the program is established, it will be less work in years to come.
Johnson was a member of the Biddeford High School marching band when it won a state championship.
“I looked at the video (of the performance) recently in Karen’s office and the music was coming back to me,” she said. “It gave me the chills.”
Those who would like to follow the progress of the Biddeford High School marching ban may visit the school department’s visual and performing arts page on Facebook, or contact Chasse at kchasse@biddefordschools.me or 391-6885.
For more information about purchasing a commemorative pillow, visit https://biddefordschools.me/biddeford-education-foundation/.
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