VIN'S PEOPLE: Lakewood Ranch High's Marching Mustangs headed to New Orleans for Sugar Bowl
Lakewood Ranch High band director John Schindler was with a group of professional peers on a tour of New Orleans last summer.
Rode a Mississippi River paddle wheeler.
Ate beignets in the French Quarter.
Visited the Superdome where the view was breathtaking.
“You’re down on the field, you look up and there’s 72,000 seats in the place. A gigantic venue,” he said. “A lot of our kids will get excited.”
They will, indeed.
Some 60 Marching Mustangs will be part of the Allstate Sugar Bowl parade on Dec. 31 and a mass halftime performance with other high school marching bands playing an arrangement from “Top Gun” at the bowl game New Year's Day.
Plans began last May, the end of Schindler’s first year at the Ranch after previous stops at Bayshore and Manatee.
“We were coming out of COVID, not being able to do things with those restrictions. We were getting back to regular competitions, but we needed to do something memorable for the band. Something out of state. This year’s seniors were freshmen the last time the marching band traveled.”
How did New Orleans come into the picture?
“We get invites for different bowl games from various travel companies and got an invite for the Peach Bowl. But we reached out to another company and said we’d love to go to New Orleans. Can you get us in contact with someone who runs the event for the Sugar Bowl? They said yes and, based on the history of our program and looking up our videos, we got accepted.
“The kids’ reaction was great. A high percentage haven’t been to New Orleans so it’s a big deal.”
Fundraising for the approximately $100,000 adventure has been going on in earnest with car washes, popcorn sales, tables for donations at football games and help from area restaurants.
Worth every dime, Schindler said.
“It’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the kids.”
• Say it ain’t so! Meg Durshimer hit the Big 6-0! Meg and husband Art recently retired after 32 years as Manatee County educators.
• Jeff Nance hit the Big 6-0, too.
• MSTV’s Game of the Week next Friday night is Manatee at Southeast with Skip Wilhoit on play-by-play and Chris Conboy doing color. Watch on Spectrum Channel 646, Frontier 39, the Manatee School District App on Roku/FireTV/AppleTV, online at MSTV.us, and simulcast on the school district YouTube Channel.
• That’s 29 years of wedded bliss for Bob and Pasquina Ricciardo.
• And 28 for Christina Crane and Tom Donegan.
• Truly, you’re never too old to learn something new. Something cool, too, thanks to an Oneco Elementary kindergartner named Jayden, a participant in Books for Kids, a weekly program with volunteers helping students improve their reading and develop a love for it.
Like to volunteer? Email Ted Lindenberg at stlind88@aol.com.
Anyway, we were reading "Hello, YOU!" about how people make friends with different greetings.
So I put out my right hand for a traditional handshake.
"That's not a handshake," Jayden said. “THIS is a handshake..."
And the precocious 6-year-old proceeded to teach this 73-year-old one of those intricate slap-hands-sideways-and-lock-fingers rituals like ballplayers do.
Made my day.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN MANNIX: LWR Marching Mustangs headed to Sugar Bowl in New Orleans
