For a quarter of a century, in fact, band members have worn the same familiar uniforms — until someone finally said enough is enough.
Spurred in part by a couple of offhand fashion critiques at a national event and made possible by an overwhelming outpouring of community support, the 2009 marching band will debut its new threads on Disneyland’s Main Street on Memorial Day weekend.
The band’s rich tradition of excellence marches on, but it appears that a new era of style and comfort is about to begin.
“It’s true, we’d been wearing the same uniforms since 1983,” band director Dana Demant said with a chuckle. “They’re supposed to last about 15 years.”
Every two years, the band takes a trip to Disneyland for a multi-school event, and on the last visit two different band directors from other schools commented on the Springfield band’s uniforms.
“One of them said something about our ‘really retro’ look,” Demant said, “and the other guy gave me the name and phone number of someone who designs uniforms and said something like, ‘You may want to contact this person.’ ”
Demant was mildly embarrassed by the comments, but his subsequent research revealed that it would cost about $27,000 to outfit the band in new uniforms. In today’s climate of budget cuts and dwindling funding for the arts, he was cautiously optimistic — at best.
Clothes, after all, don’t make the band, and Springfield High’s squad maintains a certain level of renown regardless of appearances. But, Demant said, things began to happen when a couple of band members caught wind about the comments made at Disneyland.
Marshall Curry and Andrew Hathorn formed a committee that included themselves, seven parents, Demant and co-director Christopher Holt. That committee produced letters that were sent out to parents, local alumni and community members asking for financial support to reach their $27,000 goal.
Curry said he noticed, on the last trip to Disneyland, that even some middle school bands had nicer uniforms than he and his Springfield High colleagues.
Curry was a sophomore on that trip. He knew he’d be making only one more trip to Disneyland, this year as a senior.
“I was like, ‘Man, I really want to wear these (new uniforms) and I only have a year to do this,’ ” he recalled. “So I just poked and prodded Mr. Demant and Mr. Holt to try to get something done.
“We decided the best thing to do was to form this parent committee.”
The response, the trombone-playing Curry said, was amazing.
“We raised about $20,000 in three months. It was really wonderful to see how the community responded so quickly and how everybody wanted to become involved in the arts.”
The outpouring of support came from parents, local alumni and businesses. And when the committee was still a little shy of its goal, Demant said, it simply expanded its outreach efforts.
The committee located former band members and other alumni from outside the state and explained the situation.
“There were a lot of donations from California, Idaho, places like that,” Demant said. “Small donations here and there that all added up to a huge amount of money.”
Curry and Hathorn, a trumpet player and also a senior, and the other committee members researched various uniform designs when they weren’t actively fundraising. With the money collected and the final design agreed upon, there was only one thing left to do.
“I signed the biggest purchase order in the school’s history to get the uniforms,” Curry said. “That felt pretty cool.”
It’s a bonus that everyone seems to really like the new uniforms. “They’re really nice,” Curry said. “One of my favorite things is the white on the sleeves. I was afraid it would be too much, but it’s not over the top at all. …
“The old uniforms were just obsolete.”
They also were made of layered wool, and had an overlay over that, according to Demant.
“It could get pretty uncomfortable marching in Southern California, where it was 80 degrees,” the band director said. “The new uniforms are a much lighter, mixed-polyester fabric.
“I’ve told the kids they may even want to wear long underwear when we march up here in the Northwest during the colder weather.”
For now, though, everyone’s focused on the band’s triumphant return to sunny Disneyland — two years after the whole process began.
“It’s really exciting,” Demant said. “We take a bus down there every other year and march in front of a crowd that’s bigger than the whole population of Springfield. And we bring the mariachi band and the orchestra in addition to the marching band, and we’re the only school in Oregon that has that kind of support.
“Springfield High School has its history of a strong music program and great community support, and this whole experience with the new uniforms has just proved that point again.”
“It’s true, we’d been wearing the same uniforms since 1983.”
— Dana Demant, Springfield High School band director
