The East Orange Memorial Day Parade isn't all
about East Orange. Coming together to celebrate with East Orange
is the Nepperhan
Community Center's Music On the Move Percussion Band, from
Yonkers, NY, shown above getting ready at the staging area on
South Arlington Avenue near Elmwood Park. There are many bands
and community groups here today, lining up at the starting
position since 8:00 AM this morning.
Photo by Elijah Goode
However, the main focus of our story is The East
Orange Unified Marching Band. At 8:00 AM, they are still back at
Cicely Tyson School getting in some last minute instruction from
Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sheppard.
Then the band, followed by volunteers from the
Band Parent Association (wearing red) walk from Cicely Tyson
School across town to the staging area near Elmwood Park. This
will be the last parade of the school year for our band, because
there are no funds for bus transportation to the other June
parades that had been planned. For the rest of the summer, they
will fend for themselves depending on volunteer support from
among their parents, alumni, and friends of the band.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
At the staging area, the band members form up
again under the leadership of Director Frederick Goode. The band
members wearing red plumes on their caps are section leaders,
many of them seniors, for whom this will be the last Memorial Day
Parade of their high school years in East Orange.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
At last the parade begins. The drummers will
keep the cadence from beginning to the end. They are among the
hardest workers in the band since the beat never lets up until
the parade is all over. Behind the drummers are the flag
twirlers, equally hard working, but silent members of the band.
Their contribution is purely visual.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
Trailing along behind the band is another
important support group made up of the younger brothers and
sisters and parents of band members. The children are doing
cartwheels and cheering for their band. The banner at the back of
the parade is the Cicely Tyson Community School Eagle banner,
showing the main base for the Unified Marching Band.
Photo by Al-Quadir Marsh
The band marches down Central Avenue, then
crosses over to march back up Main Street to City Hall Plaza. It
is a hot, sunny day, 92º F in the shade and even more in the hot
sun. The band parents pass out chilled bottles of water at times
like this, when the parade is pausing.
Photo by Elijah Goode
The end of the parade is now in sight. The band
takes one last pause as they wait to be announced by the M.C. in
front of city hall. What happens next is best seen in the video
below.
The East Orange Unified Marching Band in
Performance
After the parade, before the band gets away and
begins shedding their uniforms to cool off and relax, the band
staff tries to get them to pose for a final band photo to end the
school year. It's a lot like herding cats, but eventually they
all get into position and smile for the camera... well most of
them do, anyway.
This full band portrait of the East Orange
Unified Marching Band was taken at the end of the Memorial Day
Parade. We hope the band will get some rest now, and count this
day among their happy memories of high school in East Orange,
when they were young and full of energy.
