KU cancels Band Day parade because of early football game kickoff

Well, I guess I won’t bring my big fuzzy drum major hat downtown after all.

I had heard through the grapevine and now have confirmed that Kansas University has decided to cancel its traditional Band Day parade through downtown Lawrence. It was scheduled for Sept. 21.

Leslie O’Neil, office manager for the KU Band office, confirmed that the parade has been cancelled due to logistical problems created by KU’s 11 a.m. kickoff for its game against Louisiana Tech. O’Neil stressed the halftime performance of area bands is still scheduled to continue.

But I’m sure some people will be bummed that the parade won’t take place. In past years, it has seemed to draw a large crowd to downtown. But O’Neil said the early kickoff time made it difficult for the parade to happen. That’s because bands need to arrive at the stadium before the parade to practice their halftime routines. NCAA regulations require that the field be available to the football teams several hours before kickoff time. So, an 11 a.m. kickoff makes it tough for bands to have enough time to practice the routine and assemble for a pre-game parade.

I believe the parade has been cancelled at least once before because of a kickoff time conflict, but I don’t remember what year it was.

I just remember my hat got a lot of funny looks that year.