Walton Marching Raider Band Prepares for Pasadena departure

Staff Report

When Cobb County students finish their final exams on December 19th and begin celebrating two weeks of freedom from school, a group of 182 dedicated Walton High School Marching Raider Band students will return to school that very afternoon for their final marching band rehearsal in preparation for their trip to Pasadena, California, to march in the 126th Annual Tournament of Roses® Parade.

Under the direction of Director Mike Back and Associate Director Jeff Pollock, the band from Georgia will play “Georgia on My Mind” on their march of the historic 5 1⁄2-mile journey down Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard.

The band directors, students, school administrators, and the band parent organization have worked for more than a year to prepare 182 students, 10 staff members, 20 chaperones, plus all of the students’ uniforms, instruments and equipment to make the 2,300 mile trip to California – and back. Walton’s 53-foot moving van, painted in Walton Colors and affectionately named Big Blue – will be loaded on December 22nd. Big Blue will leave Marietta on December 23rd with two drivers making the trip across the country, arriving in Pasadena on December 27.

Highlights of the trip include a dinner cruise, sightseeing in Hollywood, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, float viewing, Bandfest, Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament, Disneyland, where the students will march in the Disneyland Parade, Universal Studios, a New Year’s Eve Dinner Party, with the New Year celebrated at 9:00 pm California time, followed up by a 3:00 am wake-up call on New Year’s Day to participate in the 126th Tournament of Roses Parade, and then a farewell to California dinner dance on the RMS Queen Mary.

The level of excitement increases every day as the students approach their final goal – the 126th Rose Parade! Please plan to see a sneak preview of what the world will view on New Years’ Day by attending the final Walton Marching Raider Band rehearsal. The practice takes place on Walton High School’s “Pride Field”, where the tricky 109° turn from Pasadena’s Orange Grove Boulevard onto Colorado Boulevard is duplicated in rose-colored paint, and in the stadium, located at 1590 Bill Murdock Road, Marietta GA.