Photos courtesy of Jolesch Photography

Rose Parade Final Recap!

Wow! What a week it has been. It's hard to believe the Rose Parade experience is now in our past. This event has been in process for over a year and now it is over. It was wonderful to arrive back to the school last night with all our students safe and sound and to listen to your kind words to myself and our students. I want to thank all the students for working so hard to make this a reality and for being such positive representatives of our school, community and state during their stay in California. Both on and off the public stage our students behaved well and were classy in all their activities. Disneyland was incredible and marching down the main street was thrilling. I am still receiving e-mails and comments about how well we did at the Band-fest and of course the parade was about as good as it gets. Great lines, fantastic corner and 100% of us made it to the end! I have never been so proud of our students as I witnessed their behavior in the hotel and the hotel staff were in awe as to how we acted during our free time. I hope you parents are as proud as I am and you students will remember this parade as long as you live.

A special thanks to all the staff, boosters, chaperones and parents who were with us in California. It takes many hands to do what we do and I thank everyone for the part they played in making this trip such a success!

Just a few remaining items to help us wrap this all up.

1. All uniforms need to be taken home, dry cleaned, we recommend Durfeys, and returned by next week. Remember to bring the hats in their boxes and machine wash the red bags. Keep your shoes and gloves, maybe bronze them because they carried you through the Rose Parade!

2. Lost and found stuff is by the back band room door and will be taken to DI next week.

3. All marching band instruments will be oiled, polished up and sealed away until next year.

4. Believe it or not, next years MB contracts will be issued and need to be returned by Feb 15. We have some great ideas for a show for next year and you will not want to miss it!

Thanks again for a great trip and season. You are all amazing and I look forward to our upcoming Concert and Jazz festivals.

Rose Parade

The American Fork H.S. Band is looking forward to this year with great excitement. Marching in the 2012 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many students and we are excited for the invitation to perform in this prestigious event. Every year we continue to strive for a higher degree of excellence. We are excited to have received the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s “Sudler Shield” this past year and are honored to be among those bands that have received this award. Last years bands all performed very well and we are proud of their musical achievements. The Wind Symphony, Symphonic, Jazz, Winter Guard, Marching Band and Percussion groups were very successful last year and we are expecting even better performances this coming year. It is going to be a fantastic year filled with many great musical and social experiences. We know that you will not want to miss out on the fun and musical growth that this year will provide. You follow in the footsteps of many years of traditions of excellence and we give a heartfelt thanks to those many band students who came before you and established such a high standard of achievement. It is now a new band, we cannot rely on past years achievements. The legacy that you leave will be determined by your hard work, commitment and dedication to musical growth. With your contributions to the American Fork Bands, this next year can truly be one of the best we've ever had. Help set a new standard of excellence for others to follow and when you leave this program you can say that you have done your best in everything that you have done. Let the band play on!

Rick and Sharon Jackson, Rose Parade President Visits AF

See more pictures and details of their visit in the Rose Parade tab

Report on Rose Parade's Presidents Utah Visit

Just in case you missed it all, here is a synopsis of our time with the Rose Bowl Dignitaries:
President Rick Jackson and his wife Sharon arrived on a rainy May 10 th and were greeted by: Mr. Miller, Stepannie Cottle, Sarah Beeson , all drum-majors in uniform, and our band photographers. They LOVED the greet and were even more blown away as they entered American Fork City where they saw their names on the city’s scrolling marquee!

Mayor Hadfield and city council members met the Jacksons and joined them for dinner with Mr. Miller, AF boosters, band staff and other representatives from AFHS. The dinner was amazing and donated by Cafe Rio!!! Thank you Cafe Rio!!

Our color guard lined the school hall with roses in hand to give to the Jacksons as they passed by to enter the commons area where they were loudly and excitedly welcomed by the marching band, parents, students and media. We had a meet/greet with the Jacksons as they answered media questions and were photographed for newspapers. Later in the evening, we showed them AF’s classy jazz band , wind symphony and concert bands. That evening, Mayor Hadfield with Miss American Fork, presented the Jackson’s with a city proclamation, key to the city, and a basket of goodies that represented the city of American Fork. The SBO’s then presented them with an AF hat and spirit pins. The AF marching band presented a basket filled with Utah memorabilia (fry sauce, green jello, hot chocolate, Lehi Roller Mills Cookie mix, etc). Then Mr. Jackson presented Mr. Miller with the distinguished Tournament of Roses Flag and gave wonderful praise of the marching band and his excitement for their participation in the Rose Bowl Parade 2012.

The next morning Mr. Miller and Mr. Jackson were featured on Good Morning Utah on Fox 13. Afterwards Mr. Jackson was treated to an brilliant breakfast at The Grand America Garden Cafe....can you say fancy??? They don’t even have paper towels in the rest rooms...they had linen towels...very posh!!!

Thanksgiving Point was very kind to offer an afternoon at their beautiful Tulip Gardens...it was marvelous. We then whisked them away to the Holdman Studios to have a look at the Glass Art there. Not only did we see remarkable stain glass, and blown glass but Mr. Jackson got to go into the “hot” room to make his own glass Rose...that will now be featured at the Tournament of Roses house!! How cool is that?!?! We ended our Wednesday evening with a delicious dinner at The Harvest Restaurant.

The next morning Mr. and Mrs. Jackson came to the high school to answer questions (good questions, I might add) from our band students about the Rose Bowl parade. Mr. Jackson was very impressed with our amazing students, but hey...who wouldn’t be?! The time that was spent with the students, he said, was one of the highlights of their trip.

We then took the Jackson’s on a whirlwind tour of SLC. Our gracious hosts were Elder and Sister Thorpe from Church Headquarters. We first headed over to the humanitarian center and welfare square. They were astonished at the world wide humanitarian efforts by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We then took them to the Family History Center, the largest genealogical site in the world. They were overwhelmed with the remarkable research that is being done. Just when they thought the tour couldn’t get any better, they were swept away to a computer where Mr. Jackson, with help, found a census record from Sweden of his great-great grandfather. He was astonished at how quickly it was done and that he actually walked away with paper in hand of his first family history attempt! Yeah!

Next we went to Temple Square where we were greeted by the Temple Square’s Mission President’s wife. She introduced us to the sister missionaries that were giving the tour. The Jackson’s were impressed with the awe-inspiring Salt Lake Temple. Our next stop was the ‘Mega-Nacle” or Conference Center. They were electrified at the enormity of the edifice and blown away at the 4 acre garden on top!

After a long day of touring, Elder and Sister Thorpe took us to the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial building where there was a large table for 10 with the most exquisite flowers from temple square adorning the dining table. It was breathtaking. The sensational supper was donated by the church. Our guests were then presented with gifts from the church, which included a book written by a general authority and a cd of the angelic choir of the Tabernacle!

Our evening ended with a bang as we had special reserved seats to the Tabernacle Choir rehearsal. During the rehearsal, the conductor came down and personally introduced the Jackson’s to the choir and congregation and then explained that the American Fork High School Marching Band was personally invited by Pres. Rick Jackson to participate in the 2012 Rose Bowl parade, the announcement was met with thunderous applause from the Tab Choir and congregation.

On the drive home, The Jackon’s spoke of their time here in Utah as “unforgettable”, which was our goal. They spoke highly of the friends and people they met and consider us as “family”. We reciprocate that same sentiment. As band boosters and band staff we felt so privileged to have had the opportunity of hosting such amazing dignitaries. We thank all that were involved in the process. We can’t wait to see our dear friends, The Jacksons in 2012!!!!