OC residents will march in inauguration
submitted photo / Oregon City News
Rick Wilson and DeAnna Williams, both of Oregon City, will march in the Presidential Inauguration parade Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.
Two Oregon CIty residents are joining Portland’s most active all-adult marching band on its trip to the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C.
Rick Wilson and DeAnna Williams will be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue On Jan. 20 with the Get a Life Marching Band of Portland. Approximately 100 other units from around the country will be in the Presidential Inaugural Parade.
The band hails from all around the Portland and Southwest Washington metro area and ranges in age from 20’s to 60’s. “Our members have three things in common,” said GAL Founder and Executive Director Bob Pulido. “We were all in high school or college marching bands; we still haven't gotten over it; and we'd rather miss a note than a meal!”
Steve Tolopka, GAL’s music director, still can’t quite believe the group’s good fortune. “The Presidential Inaugural Committee received a record 1382 applications for the parade this year, so we are awestruck and deeply honored to be among the lucky few with an invitation to this historic event. But we knew our high-energy, brassy, funky rock and roll style would be different from anyone else applying to the parade. "
Part of the band’s appeal to the Committee may be that it reaches well beyond the Northwest. Members are traveling from the states of Washington, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, and South Dakota to join the merrymaking. This combination of local identity and national reach fueled the band’s choice of music for the presidential reviewing stand — a medley of “We’re An American Band” and the Northwest anthem “Louie Louie.”
The group is scrambling to prepare for the trip since it only recently learned of its selection. Tolopka tells the story: “We applied for the parade back in November but learned in early December that we hadn’t made the cut, so we resigned ourselves to planning for 2013. Then three days ago I was sitting by my brother’s pool in Orlando over Christmas break when our cell phone rang. When I discovered it was the Inaugural Committee inviting us to replace another group that dropped out of the parade, I was so excited I almost dropped the phone.”
The result is that Director of Operations Tom Higham is working feverishly to transport more than 100 band and family members to the East Coast. With as many as 4 million people expected to invade Washington on Inauguration Day, transportation and lodging in the city have long since vanished. “Our best alternative was Philadelphia, so that’s where we’re headed,” says Higham.
The last-minute opportunity has the band gearing up for something else it rarely does: fund-raising. Band members normally defray their own travel expenses, but the short notice and sagging economy have the group looking for angels. “It will take nearly $80,000 to get to the Inauguration so we’re grateful for any assistance, large or small,” says Pulido. Donations can be made at www.getalifemb.org.