Gaston, Glencoe, Sardis, West End bands team up for Gatlinburg's Fantasy of Lights Parade

Four Etowah County high school bands plan to verify the proverb “there’s strength in numbers” this weekend in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The Gaston, Glencoe, Sardis and West End bands will be marching as a single 195-member unit in Friday’s 48th annual Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade.

It’s one of the major holiday events in the Southeast, generally drawing 60,000 to 80,000 spectators to the tourist haven and gateway to the Smoky Mountains. “We’re looking at the latest stuff they sent us from Gatlinburg,” West End band director Jonathan Powell said, “and it said there may be as many as 100,000 this year.”

The parade, filled with the usual balloons, floats, marching bands and Santa Claus, steps off at 7:30 p.m. EST from the intersection of Baskins Creek Bypass and East Parkway. The route turns onto the main Parkway at Traffic Light 3 and proceeds through downtown Gatlinburg to its conclusion at Traffic Light 10.

Counting chaperones, parents and others who’ll be driving up for the parade, Powell expects the group from Etowah County to total 350 to 400. “(It’s a) big deal,” he said.

The trip originated with a discussion between the four directors — Powell, Gaston’s Rebekah Hammock, Glencoe’s Michael Peterson and Sardis’ Brandon Pruitt — at the 2022 Etowah County Band Exhibition.

“We all got together and decided, ‘You know what? We’re going to be better off going together than us going separately to do anything,’ just to help with the costs,” Powell said.

“We met in May at the end of the school year and said, ‘Let’s just go for it,’” he said. “We presented it to our band booster organizations and sent in a field trip request to (Etowah County Schools Superintendent Alan) Cosby and the board, and it was approved so we put everything into action.”

The result was a true collaborative effort between the bands and directors, as well as the respective schools and band booster groups.

Each director was assigned a specific responsibility. Powell wrote the arrangement for the music, keeping things simple with a medley of “Joy to the World” and “Jingle Bells.”

Pruitt wrote the percussion parts and collaborated with Powell on administrative duties.

Hammock also worked on the percussion parts and helped “make sure everything goes the way it should,” Powell said, as her band has the largest number of representatives.

Peterson was in charge of the color guard, dance line and majorettes, with assistance from Kay Smith and Samuel Cermack.

Those elements were put into place on Nov. 14, when the bands came together for a combined rehearsal at West End. Once they were, Powell said, “We put them in a block, and we marched and marched and marched until it was time for them to go home.”

The payoff will begin Friday morning, when the bands depart from Sardis on five chartered buses. The students will spend Friday night in Pigeon Forge and visit Dollywood on Saturday before heading home.

“We’re excited, because it’s going to be a great opportunity for our kids, our parents and our programs,” said Powell, who noted that for his own band, he sees it much like “a recruiting trip” to build interest for the future.

He said it’s particularly significant for the West End and Gaston students and communities, given the socioeconomic status of those areas.

“It’s going to be a good time,” Powell said. “Hopefully, we can represent Etowah County and Etowah County Schools with dignity and integrity, and look and sound good at the same time.”

Cosby welcomes the attention for the system. “Any time our students can be highlighted in an event such as that, it’s a great student experience and it’s great for our schools as well,” he said. “We’re proud to show off our bands and our talented students, and we’re proud of the hard work of these band directors.”

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Four Etowah County bands team up for Gatlinburg Christmas parade