By Per Peterson
Barring another relentless Labor Day downpour, the Tracy Area High School marching band will debut its brand new uniforms in the 2019 Box Car Days grand parade.
A sample uniform arrived last winter, and the new collection will be ordered January 2019.
“We’ll have them for the Box Car Days parade,” said TAHS band director Brittani Klaverkamp. “If it gets rained out, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
With black as the base color, the new uniform tops are equal parts blue and red, with a black “T” where a chest pocket would be located on a men’s shirt. The right sleeve is blue with red bands at the wrist, while the left sleeve is black, also with red bands at the wrist. The pants are black, as is the shako (hat). A “V”-shaped mirror adorns the front of the shako, which holds a mostly black plume that has red spikes randomly shooting out from it. Also, band members will wear black gloves and black shoes.
Klaverkamp said the colored panel on the jacket will remain the same size on all of the uniforms, regardless of size. The black on the sides is what changes for the jacket sizing, she said.
“This makes the band look nice and consistent across the entire ensemble,” Klaverkamp said. “When they’re marching down the street what’s going to pop out is the color on the jacket, the shakos and plumes. It brings the attention of the audience up to their faces and instruments. I think they look really sharp. I think the kids will look good in them.”
Klaverkamp said it’s well past time the band gets its hands on new uniforms. The current ones were purchased by the school 29 years ago.
See this week’s Headlight-Herald, for more on this story.