Bringing up the rear of Tulip Times festival’s Muziekparade was the Petoskey High School Steel Drum Band.
By Jake.Allen / @hollandsentinel.com / 616-546-4273
Hawaiian shirts, a red double-decker trailer and of course steel drums was the scene at Eighth Street and College Avenue Saturday afternoon.
Bringing up the rear of Tulip Times festival’s Muziekparade was the Petoskey High School Steel Drum Band. The parade began at 2 p.m. and from 3:30-4:30 p.m. the band performed on Eighth Street.
Mary and Floyd Powell, who have lived in Holland for four years and have been coming to the Muziekparade ever since, said the band had an energy that made it special.
“It adds another dimension to the parade and it’s just such a fun float,” Mary Powell said. “It’s a happy time.”
Duane Wilson, one of the band’s directors, said performing in parades gives the students in the band a great opportunity.
“They (the students) get a chance to do something that no one else gets to do and that’s play in front of a lot of people,” Wilson said. “We played down at Mardi Gras and we go all over the state, we do a parade in Petoskey and we even go up to the Upper Peninsula.”
Replies
Just watch at this pic, white people in a foreign land see how important it it the come on the road with their band. they run from this in the Mecca, I believe their growth depends on they see this.
Cecil: In the GLOBAL PICTURE this PAN TING really going mad!!! Every week WHENSTEELTALKS could feature some STEELBAND or PAN PLAYER moving the instruments further into the PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS. It's amazing to me, actually. And most of this foundation around the globe was laid by EXPATS. Nobody down in LAX seems to respect or even be aware of that. People like you who PUSHED PAN outside of Trinidad multiply by 10,000 others.
The only thing missing is some DECENT PAN MUSIC -- ah doh know when that will happen and I am sick of waiting. Ah think ah born 20 years before my time because what I want to hear coming from the PAN don't even seem close to the horizon as yet.
Claude, every year they roll their pans down the drag to the stage for panorama, all I am saying is to start back playing them.
Cecil: This PAN ON TRUCK TING getting outta hand, boy. Now PAN PLAYING on double-decker truck just to make tings worse. Ah doh know how yuh going to get this PAN ROLLING ON THE ROAD TING going again!!!