By Rosemary Horvath
Herald Correspondent
[private]The Alma High School marching band didn’t let a strike-out ruin an opportunity to explore, take in some sights of Michigan’s largest city, and watch the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians.
They just couldn’t play the National Anthem on the field at the start of the game as they had planned to do last Tuesday night because of a rescheduled double-header.
Coincidently, the Fulton High School marching band stepped on the field the following day to honor America.
The Detroit Tigers organization invites schools to submit recordings before the season begins then selects which bands will perform the National Anthem.
“Well, the day did not go as planned,” Alma band director Tim Newman said, but it turned out to be a fabulous experience.
That was due to band members touring the Henry Ford Museum, and the Detroit Opera House, and feasting on Detroit-style pizza.
Newman thanked the Gratiot Community Foundation for a grant to cover transporting the 68 students and 15 adults. The Henry Ford Museum also helped with discounted ticket price.
“It was a very positive experience,” Newman said, now in his 19th year with the Alma music department. “I don’t forsee this being a yearly event but we may try to do it again.”
Fulton band director Brian Wyman describes himself as a big baseball fan who lines up visits to Lansing Lugnut games. This year, he approached the Tigers, and everyone was good to go.
The Fulton caravan included 22 students in grades seven through 12.
It was the first time to Detroit as well as the first professional sporting event for most in the group. Students were impressed with Comerica’s seating capacity of 41,083.
That falls a little short of Gratiot County’s population of 41,544. Then there is Comerica’s large scoreboard in the outfield.
“They were surprised to see their faces on the screen,” Wyman said. “The Tigers took good care of us. The guy who organized the tickets met us at the gate and showed us around. It was a lot of fun,”
The experience left Wyman with “a big childish grin on my face.”
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