SHO-ME Band stepping closer to Disney parade

Poplar Bluff High School’s SHO-ME Band is one step closer to marching in the 50th Anniversary Disney Parade in March.

“We have 86 right now, which is typically the number we take,” said band director Stephen Winters. “We’re going to start working on the music. We’re in the home stretch.”

Winters praised community members who “really stepped up and helped several of the students pay their way.”

While this will be the fifth time Winters has taken the band to Disney in Florida, he’s surprised the group was invited this year.

“The beginning of the year, they said they would be very selective of the groups they are able to take,” he said. “When we applied, I was like, ‘Oh, well, we probably won’t get a spot because we’re a little bit smaller band. We’re not like a 250-member band.’”

But Disney reached out with an invitation.

Winters was surprised and excited the band is performing.

“They get to march straight in front of the Disney Castle,” he said. “Usually there are thousands of fans. Last time, there were 75,000 people in the park. ... They announce the band as they go down different areas of the park. The audience is usually very receptive to them.”

The band has several kids for which this will be their first big trip out of state.

Winters said, “That’s the reason we do it, as well as to obviously represent Poplar Bluff, but at the same time, it’s just exciting for them.”

A few students are still fundraising for the trip.

Winters and the boosters are trying to think of anything the students would probably need, and “we’re gonna have some meetings with the parents to talk over details.”

The $1,000 each student was to collect through either fundraising, working or donations will pay for the chartered bus, the hotel and three days of park tickets. Some of the meals at the park will be included in the tickets.

The students will need extra food and spending money. The plan is for the students to have their own money for food on the trip to and from Florida, as well as items they want to purchase.

Some of the students have never seen a beach, and “we always try to take a trip down there,” Winters said. “The kids usually eat lunch there. So that could be a meal we could definitely get sponsored. That’d be great since that is not included in the Disney park ticket vouchers.”

Winters suggests if somebody wants to sponsor something, they could sponsor the meal at the beach, a meal on the way down or on the way back.

For more information, email Winters at stephenwinters@pb.k12.mo.us.

Anyone wanting to help may mail a donation to Stephen Winters, in care of Poplar Bluff High School. For additional information, call Anna Robertson at 573-718-2831.