GSU Band Isn’t Going To Rose Parade, Weighs Options For Potential Football Season
The Georgia State band, seen here during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2014, was set to play in this year’s Rose Parade. But the parade has been canceled.
Tina Fineberg / Associated Press
It’s only been a few days since members of Georgia State’s Panther Marching Band learned they would not participate in one of America’s most prestigious parades on New Year’s Day 2021. The Rose Parade was officially canceled last week due to COVID-19 restrictions and health mandates. Students had already been practicing their tempos, pitches and building up stamina in buggy Georgia heat this summer.
The sting has just started to wear off for GSU’s Director of Athletic Bands Chester Phillips. He told “Morning Edition” host Lisa Rayam that the band will be able to defer and play in the 2022 parade – assuming COVID-19 still won’t be a threat more than a year later.
“It’s a huge honor, and it takes years of preparation to get an application ready and to be accepted into an event like that,” Phillips said.
The Panther Band was notified in October 2019 that they would be marching. Now Phillips is reworking most of the band’s fall 2020 plans.
He said it was wise for officials to ax the parade, but there’s a severity to it – the only other time festivities were canceled was during WWII.
Meanwhile, during Gov. Brian Kemp’s “Wear A Mask” road trip across Georgia, he remarked that if especially young people start wearing face masks in public, there might be a slim chance that college football season could still happen.
“If we all hunker down right now, and dig in the next two or three weeks, we can get this turned in the right direction,” Kemp said earlier this month.
When Phillips was asked if he sees college football season coming back for the band this year, he paused.
“I mean this with all sincerity; I hope that our students’ safety is the highest priority,” Phillips said.
Kemp filed a lawsuit this month against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and members of the Atlanta City Council. The suit asks a judge to strike down Atlanta’s face mask mandate, arguing it goes against state-level executive orders.
Kemp’s latest executive order explicitly bans local governments from requiring face masks, or from issuing health rules that bypass the state.
Rising GSU senior and drum major Beavan Zulu said students had already started building up their stamina for the fall season and the Rose Parade. But, he said, health and safety should come first.
“Right now, we are trying to get clearance from the school itself to rehearse as a fall ensemble. We would be able to split up our ensemble throughout the stadium,” Zulu said.
Game-wise, he said, COVID-19 means the marching band could not necessarily be marching.
“They’re planning on isolating mainly the north end zone for our ensemble, plus our spirit team, because they just want football on the field,” Zulu noted, saying that would make it easier for students to socially distance.
Top Stories
