by Eduardo Calderon| News Editor
Johnson spirit will fill the soundwaves during San Antonio’s Fiesta celebration this year, as band will be performing in two separate events.
“We’ve never done both events before,” senior Ryan Stone said, “We’re performing at Battle of the Bands and Battle of the Flowers.”
The 75th annual Battle of the Flowers Band Festival, “Battle of the Bands,” is taking place April 25th, 2013 starting at 7pm, while gates open at 5pm.
“We are one of the premier [feature] bands because we’re awesome,” senior James Deering said, “It’s being held at Blossom Athletic center.”
Battle of the Bands is usually held at Alamo Stadium, but is currently under construction, however it will still receive a lot of attention no matter what venue it is held at.
“This event is on of the most attended events of Fiesta, and always sees a large crowd,” Johnson Band Director Jarrett Lipman said.
Battle of the Bands allows schools from the surrounding area to join in an annual musical festival.
According to http://www.battleofflowers.org/band-festival.aspx, Battle of Flowers Band Festival is entitiled “Celebrations!” and will feature musical tributes to world festivals, heritages, and anniversaries. Students from more than 30 high school bands from San Antonio will join forces to present an entertaining musical evening.
The following day, Johnson Band will be performing at the Battle of the Flowers Parade.
“We are performing our Eve show,” Stone said, “A marching show that we did last year.”
The Battle of the Flowers parade is one of the oldest and largest parades in San Antonio’s history, which will take place during the morning on Friday April 26th, 2013.
According to http://www.battleofflowers.org/battle-of-flowers-parade.aspx, The theme is “Celebrations!”, while the parade will begin around 12:30pm, as the parade route is from Broadway at Josephine through downtown San Antonio to Martin at Santa Rosas.
Besides being involved in the Fiesta celebration, Johnson Band already has plans to take part in a New Year’s tradition.
“We are performing at next year’s Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California,” Stone said, “We are performing because we got selected since we’re awesome.”
The work put into each performance has taken a toll on many band members, however they are creating big shoes for future bands to fill.
“It’s stressful getting ready for each performance,” Stone said, “[But Johnson Band] is going in the right direction, it’ll raise the standard for future years to come.”
