July 20, 2014 - Mt. Carmel Church Festival Procession and Concert Utica, NY

After the 10:30 Mass in Honor of our Lady of Mount Carmel’s Feast Day, the Red Band escorted the Statue around the Church block ending at the outdoor Shrine in the parking lot.

 A large group of parishioners was in attendance for the Benediction. Everyone joined in singing Tantum Ergo in Latin accompanied by the band

After a short break we performed a 2 hour concert from a bandstand setup in front of a large tent where everyone sat listening to us as they enjoyed a variety of Italian foods.

 The Mt Carmel Feast is known for their exceptionally good food: sausage and peppers, mushroom stew, meatballs, arancini (rice balls), pizza fritte, and much more.

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Mt. Carmel Procession

Mt. Carmel Concert

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!!

July 18, 2014 - Ilion NY Doo-Dah Parade

A Doo-Dah Parade is one that usually has wacky, funny, and outrageous themes, costumes, and floats. You can usually see everything from synchronized shopping carts to lawn mower drill teams.

Every year Ilion has a Doo-Dah Parade as part of their week-long Ilion Days.

La Banda Rossa has marched in it for many years usually in our traditional uniform sometimes wearing black shorts if it was a hot evening.

This year we decided to join along with the craziness. We wore our traditional hats, red ties, and black pants or shorts, but added crazy shirts and socks.

It was just enough of a change to make us fit right in with the theme.

All along the parade route the crowd clapped and shouted in appreciation.

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Ilion Parade

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!!

July 13, 2014 - Boilermaker Road Race Utica, NY

Because of the recent tornado activity in the area this summer, race officials were very skittish about the thunderstorm forecast for race time. They decided at 5:30am that it was a go – but would end the after party an hour earlier hoping to beat the rain.

We setup as usual on the parkway just before mile 2 – at the end of the international mile representing the East Utica Italian Heritage.

We all wore our 2014 Boilermaker T-shirts and played “Marcia Reale” for each of the wheelchair racers as they came by.

We broke into  Funicula, Funiculi as the Kenyans, Elites, and Women runners sped by.

We varied our songs among marches, polkas, Tarantellas, and the ever popular Rosamunda – better known as The Beer-Barrel Polka. The runners came by us waving, dancing, and conducting.

Four of our musicians didn’t play with us – Julia Galime, Brian Griffin, and new members Corinne and Hanna Bouchard were running in the Boilermaker this year.

VIVA to all the Athletes!!!

 PS – it didn’t rain until later in the day and a tornado was reported down near Watkins Glen – a few hours south of Utica.

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Boilermaker Road Race

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!!

July 12, 2014 - New York Mills NY Bell Parade

A festival and parade are held every year to celebrate the days when a bell was rung to signal the beginning and end of the working day in the Mills.

We have marched in this parade for many years and all of our musicians were arrived at 4:30pm for a 5:00 start time. We usually try to arrive 30-40 minutes early to allow for parking and line-up.

We were asked why we were there so early. The start time for the parade had been changed to 6pm.It seems no one had called us with the time change.

It was a very hot evening but everyone found shade or porch steps to sit on until everyone starting arriving at 5:30.

The parade began and we marched down the street ending at the festival in the park.

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Bell Parade

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!!