Manning High School Band to Make Unlikely March in Inaugural Parade

Manning, SC—It’s probably fitting that Manning High School’s marching band’s story is unlikely, since Barack Obama’s run for the White House was at first considered unlikely as well. But they’ll be together in Washington, D.C. for the Inaugural Parade.

Manning High has fewer than 900 students, and the town of Manning has only about 4,000 residents. But it’s the only marching band from South Carolina chosen for the parade.

The story begins when Barack Obama was first a candidate for president. He campaigned in Manning and the Manning High Golden Pride band entertained the crowd. Obama was so impressed that he invited the band to play at another of his events, this time at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia when Oprah Winfrey was campaigning with him. Again, things went so well that he asked the band to play at his victory party in Columbia on primary night.

But Obama’s victory in November still didn’t get the band a slot in the Inaugural Parade. Band instructor Ray Francis still had to fill out a lengthy application, which included photos, audio and video.

Francis then got a call that the band had been chosen. “Can you imagine?! I mean, Manning!“ Francis says. “It’s a very small town. And Manning gets to go and play for the President of the United States in the Inaugural Parade. I mean we’re still all pinching ourselves. It’s the most amazing thing that could’ve ever happened to us.“ 

Alto saxophone player Kevin Levy says it’s especially exciting for him. “I just turned 18 in October, so I just made it to vote for him,“ he says. “So I did that and I just feel happy about it because we played for him before.“

But being chosen to play isn’t the end of the story. The band still had to come up with the $100,000 it would need for transportation, hotels and food for the trip to Washington. That’s when the town of Manning, and supporters all over South Carolina, pitched in. The band has received donations from all over the state. On several days, the band practiced after school by marching around the parking lot of a local shopping mall. Volunteers carrying buckets collected money from shoppers who stopped to listen.

Band Commander Teshawn Gamble says the magnitude of it all already has sunk in. “We’re going to be in history, and 10 years from now you have a story to tell to everybody,“ he says.

The band has collected enough money to pay its expenses for the trip, and now Francis is using any extra money to replace instruments, some of which are in pretty bad shape. The effort will allow not only better sound and a better look for the parade, it’ll allow him to recruit more students to be in the band. And that can have life-changing implications.

“In South Carolina, 1 out of every 4 students drop out of high school between the 9th and 12th grade. 1 out of every 4!“ Francis says. “When I can get ‘em in the band, there’s no dropout. We’ve never had a band student drop out of school since they’ve started the band.“

And now, with state and national attention, it’ll be even easier to get more students to start.

If you’d like to make a donation to the band, send it to:

Manning High School Band
2155 Paxville Highway
Manning, SC 29102