Marching on to D.C.

Much of Havre took a break Tuesday afternoon to watch, cheer and walk along with the Havre High School band as it marched from the school, down 5th Avenue and to Pepin Park.

Hordes of people lined both sides of 5th Avenue to watch the band trek one mile in a preview of its performance in the National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C., Monday. People took pictures and clapped and some followed the band the entire march.

For more photos of Tuesday's band performance, see the Havre Daily News Facebook page.

For coverage of the band's performance in Washington this weekend, parents and students will be taking pictures and writing stories of the weekend. See their reports on http://www.havredailynews.com and the Havre Daily News Facebook page.

The band members were sandwiched between the Pony Express coach bus, which was slowly trailing a few yards behind, and a police cruiser driven by Police Chief Gabe Matosich in the front.

Seventeen-year-old Hannah Bean and 15-year-old MacKenzie Parotte said, before the march began, that they were excited about the trip. For Bean, the trip would be three firsts - her first time on a plane, her first time in Washington and her first time on the East Coast.

Before the march began, band director David Johnke told the students to drink lots of water. Then he encouraged them.

"All those people are for you guys, and there's a lot of them," he said through a megaphone, before he signaled for the rehearsal march to begin.

A snare player began drumming and the students started walking in rhythm.

The first onlookers to greet the students was a group of children waiting in front of Rod's Drive-In. Kim Fuzesy, who said he was visiting from Hot Springs, South Dakota, was watching the kids, three of whom were his grandchildren, and smiling as the band got closer.

Once on 5th Avenue, the rest of the band members joined in and began playing.

People were standing in the grass, others were in folding chairs and some were riding their bikes along. However they were taking in the performance, it looked like everyone was enjoying the moment.

Among the onlookers, taking pictures and grinning from ear to ear, was Havre Public Schools Superintendent Andy Carlson.

A long line of kids who walked from the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line to see the parade were sitting on the curb in front of the Robins School Administration Building, happily watching the band pass by.

"This town's amazing," Carlson said, after walking past the kids.

Just before making a right onto 4th Street, the musicians passed the fire station, where firefighters had been waiting to clap and cheer the band on.

After the band made it onto the grass of Pepin Park, the students took off their tall, cylindrical shakos and most of them revealed heads drenched in sweat.

Johnke gathered his students around and told them they did well. He said it was good to have a dress rehearsal and that conditions in Washington will be more humid.

He said Tuesday's march was about a mile long, a little longer than the distance they're supposed to march in Washington.

Johnke said one of the songs the band will play in Washington will be the state song, "Montana."