Any day spent at Walt Disney World is bound to be a good day, but last Friday proved especially nice for one lucky musician in the Mount Hebron High School marching band.
In Orlando, Fla., to perform in Disney's Magic Music Days festival, the 165-member band was marching along Main Street, U.S.A., when the drum major signaled them to halt. A stage had been wheeled into the middle of the road, blocking the band's path.
As band members wondered what was going on, senior Tracie Ervin's name suddenly was announced as the 2-millionth student performer at Disney World since the festival began in 1985.
When Ervin walked onto the stage, "she made the cutest face you have ever seen," said Disney spokeswoman Christine DeMichael. When the four-year band member learned that Disney was presenting her with an array of prizes, including a free vacation, she couldn't believe her good fortune.
"I was completely shocked and blown away," said Ervin, who plays the mellophone, a brass instrument used by marching bands as a substitute for the more cumbersome French horn. "It took me a couple of hours to process everything. Even now, I look at my parents and say, `Can you believe it?'"
"We knew in advance that we would hit the 2 million mark when Mount Hebron was scheduled to be here," DeMichael said, but theme park staff still didn't clue in Robert Johnston, the band's director for 34 years, until the morning of the ceremony.
She said Disney invited Mount Hebron Principal David Brown and Howard County's superintendent of schools, Sydney L. Cousin, to come to the theme park, though officials provided no explanation as to what would take place. Cousin designated Assistant Superintendent Linda Wise as his representative.
"We simply told these officials that we knew they really wouldn't want to miss what we were planning," DeMichael said. Disney provided their round-trip airfare and overnight hotel accommodations.
"Linda and I had been contacted two weeks before the band trip, but we were given no idea what to expect," said Brown, explaining they had flown down together the morning of March 13. "There is brand recognition with Disney, though, and a built-in degree of trust, so we decided to go."
Brown said he and Wise were supposed to steer clear of band members, but that he accidentally ran into a few students on the park grounds. "I said hello, but they probably thought I was standoffish since I never asked about their performance the next day."
