With only a few days left until the Neosho High School Wildcat Band leaves for the upcoming Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, band members were busy practicing Saturday at the high school’s practice field.

“We are excited about going,” said Neosho R-5 director of instrumental music Elizabeth Rogers.

A total of 105 band members, including some parents and other band members, will make the trek starting at 5 a.m. Tuesday in three charter buses to the Sugar Bowl.

“We have been practicing nonstop, doing fundraisers every day, constantly, but it has been really fun,” said NHS senior and band member Heather Wieprecht, who plays the trombone. “I have been playing in the band since I was in fifth grade. It’s fun.”

Another student who is eagerly awaiting to go is NHS freshman Nick Abruzzo, a trombone player.
Abruzzo said he thinks that it is not only an honor for the band to perform, but for Neosho as well.

“I was very excited about getting to go to the Sugar Bowl and perform there,” Abruzzo said.

Also for Bethany Langland, junior and percussionist, she too finds it an honor.

“I am really, really excited,” Langland said. “I never thought that the Neosho band would have an opportunity like this.”

Itinerary

The band will arrive in New Orleans on the evening of Dec. 30, and in the morning on Dec. 31 will compete in the Sugar Bowl Festival of Champions field show competition at a local New Orleans high school. The band will perform its 2008 fall field show, “Pyramids of Egypt,” which earned 18 trophies in four competitions this year.

After that performance, the band will head to downtown New Orleans and do a stand-and-play performance on the historic steps of Jackson Square.

On New Year’s Eve, the band will head to Mardi Gras World, a business where the floats for the annual Mardis Gras parade are built, and have an awards and dance party. The band students will be able to view a fireworks display over the Mississippi River.

On Jan. 1, the students will have their first mass band rehearsal with the other high school bands performing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl halftime show. The theme for the halftime show is “Celebration,” in honor of the game’s 75th anniversary.

That afternoon, the students will take a swamp tour and in the evening they will have dinner on a riverboat cruise and enjoy some jazz music.

On Jan. 2, the day of the big game, the band will have its final rehearsal in the Superdome, and will later arrive for the game at 5 p.m. Kickoff for the game is 7 p.m. The game features No.4 Alabama and No. 6 Utah. For more information, see allstatesugarbowl.com.

The band will begin its return home the morning of Saturday, Jan. 3, and arrive in Neosho that night.

Prior to the band leaving on Tuesday, they will be practicing today and then at 2 p.m. on Monday at the stadium.

“Weather permitting, we will do a preview, we are calling it our send off concert at the stadium and if the weather is too bad, then we will do it in the junior high gym,” Rogers said.

To follow the band, a blog site has been added. View it at http://www.nhsbandsugarbowl.blogspot.com.