The Fayette County High School Marching Band is headed to the granddaddy of them all: the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., for New Year’s Day 2007.

Band director Kenny Beard will have to get his troops in shape: the parade route, at 5.5 miles, is quite long even for such a major parade.

Beard, who has been band director at FCHS for 16 years, will have some unique insight to impart to the students. In 1971, he marched in the parade as part of the All-American Band sponsored by McDonald’s — one of two band members chosen to represent Georgia on the band.

Beard recalled the parade route back then as challenging, even though he toted one of the lighter instruments, a clarinet. Pity the poor drummer or tuba player who has to traverse the five-plus mile route hauling, and playing, a heavy instrument.

“I remember being foot-tired by the end,” Beard said, adding that his shoes were probably less comfortable than his band will wear for the parade.

The Tiger Marching Band will have to march the equivalent of 24 times around the school’s track. So Beard and assistant band director Myra Rhoden have to not only focus on the timing and pitch of the band’s presentation, they’ll have to make sure everyone’s physically fit enough to take it on.

“It’s a big task for the students,” Beard said. “There will be a lot of conditioning things that we’ll have to do to get ready.”

Of course, Beard is no stranger to taking students on significant musical adventures. In 2000 he took the band to Sydney, Australia to perform at the Summer Olympic Games. Last year he took the band to march in the annual London New Year’s parade.

Such large projects are time consuming but worth it, because they unite the band by giving the group a goal to shoot for, and they get the support of not only band personnel but their parents and families, too, Beard said.

“When you’re doing something good, everybody wants to be a part of it,” Beard said.

The band’s parade music for Pasadena won’t be chosen until the Tournament of Roses committee selects the theme for the parade, Beard said.

“We’ll play two or three songs the whole way,” Beard said.

Beard plans on retiring after the next school year, and this will be a great way to go out, he said.

With hopes to have 175 members in the combined band, color guard and flag corps it will cost an estimated $325,000 to get them there for the six-day trip, said organizer Kim Kee. Soon, the fund-raising will begin, with money raised to offset the kids’ costs of making the trip.

The fund-raising plans include holding a raffle where hopefully the top prize will be a car or truck, second prize will be a four-day cruise and another major prize will be offered, Kee said.

Even the car wash fund-raisers will have a unique twist. In addition to taking donations, each band participant will also seek pledges from the community for each vehicle they wash, Kee said. Beard has also agreed to participate in a sit-in, maybe in the vehicle that will be raffled off, where he will stay in one place until a certain amount of money is raised.

Organizers are working to keep the costs down but still have a big bang on the trip. In addition to participating in the parade, the students will get a behind-the-scenes look at the gorgeous floral float just before the event, which will be broadcast live on HGTV and on multiple TV networks.

There will also be a special dinner and dance event for band members, and they will take trips to Disneyland, California Adventure, Universal Studios and a tour of Los Angeles. The band will also perform its field show in the “Band Fest” hosted by the Tournament of Roses group, which will include performances from all of the bands participating in the parade.

In 2003, nearly 20 million U.S. residents watched the parade on TV. Local supporters will get to watch the Tiger marching band get their 15 minutes of fame on national (and international) broadcasts.

Donations to the band are tax-deductible. For more information, contact Kee at cabound_06@bellsouth.net or mail her at P.O. Box 444, Fayetteville, Ga., 30214; her phone number is 770-460-1168.

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