Each year, Norwich High School band director Cheryl McClaren lets her students choose between attending Band Day at Kansas University or Kansas State University.

“We have a lot of kids from families with ties to both schools, so I just let the students pick,” she said while straightening one of her drummers’ uniforms Saturday, a few minutes before the start of KU’s 56th annual Band Day parade through downtown Lawrence.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” McClaren said. “I went to Wichita State.”

Last year, McClaren’s students picked Kansas State. So why the switch?

“You guys are nice to us. K-State wasn’t nice to us,” said drummer Ryan McComber, his orange, mirrored sunglasses clashing with his red-and-white uniform. “We like KU better.”

Others weren’t so emphatic. “I just want to get this over with,” said Theresa Boydston, a Norwich eighth grader. “These uniforms are hot.”

For that, she can blame KU’s associate director of bands Tom Stidham.

“I was put in charge of the weather this year,” Stidham said, laughing and recalling last year’s rain-soaked event.

Of the 36 high school bands in the Band Day parade, Norwich High School’s musicians appeared to have traveled the farthest. Norwich, population 550, is about 25 miles southwest of Wichita.

Heather Melchoir, a Tonganoxie High School senior, leads the school's marching band. The band was one of 36 high school units to participate Saturday in Kansas University's 56th annual Band Day activities downtown and at KU's Memorial Stadium.

Hundreds of people — many with small children in tow — lined Massachusetts Street for the festivities.

“This is great — we come every year,” said Bessie Foster, who had parked her minivan on the west side of the 800 block Massachusetts, ensuring front-row seats for her daughters, Kaitlin and Christina, both 6.

Asked which band she liked the best, Foster, who lives in Lawrence, replied: “I’d have to say the KU marching band. They’ve been doing it the longest; they know how to do it.”

Band fosters friendships

Heather Baker and Erin Lowman, both sophomore music majors, are in KU’s marching band. Each was armed with a pair of cymbals.

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“You get really buff playing cymbals, they’re really a good workout,” said Baker, who’s from Lawrence.

Both said they were looking forward to another year of getting into KU football and basketball games for free.

“I like being part of the KU tradition,” said Lowman, who’s from Dallas.

But best of all, she and Baker said, are their friendships with other band members.

“The friendships I’ve made here are the strongest out of any of the other classes I’ve had at KU,” Baker said. “It’s great.”

Tim Greenwell, who graduated from KU in 1988, couldn’t have agreed more. “See this guy here?” he said, pointing to Doug Eason. “He’s the best friend — we’ve known each other 19 years. We met in (KU) band.”

“Both of us met our wives in band, too,” said Eason, who played French horn.

Fewer performers

Eason and Greenwell both noted that this year’s parade attracted fewer marching bands than in years past.

“Look who isn’t here — no Shawnee Mission, no Olathe, no Blue Valley, no Topeka,” Eason said, poking Greenwell, who’s assistant band director at Center High School in Kansas City, Mo. “And look at you, you’re not here.”

Greenwell said he would have loved to have had his students in the parade, but money was tight and he had been told to limit his band’s out-of-town appearances to three.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” he said. “We march competitively, so we had to choose between Band Day and (KU’s) big marching competition in October. Band Day isn’t competitive, so we’ll be here in October. A lot of the bigger schools are going through the same thing.”

After the parade, the bands performed Saturday night during halftime of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas vs. KU football game at Memorial Stadium.

Mikey Andrews, 5, sits on the shoulders of his father, Ron Andrews. The two were in downtown Lawrence Saturday to watch the Band Day parade.