All 160 members of a Calgary marching band snuck off their buses and into the crowd at the Kelowna Farmers’ Market on Wednesday.
“It’s a rush,” said Gabrielle Landry-Ellis of Calgary Round-Up Band.
“It gives me a second family. I know my entire section, I know I’m going to be friends with for my entire life . . . it’s not just ‘play your music and go.’ You work for everything you do.”
The junior high school students normally dress in matching uniforms topped with cowboy hats. But for this flash mob performance, they performed in plain clothes in an effort to blend in.
“We did originate as more of a military-style band and evolved into what we call a show band,” said Alex Pan of Calgary Round-Up Band.
“So while we still have all the marching instruments and still incorporate marching technique, we don’t view ourselves as a straight-lace military band,”
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The surprise show was organized as a unique way to advertise the upcoming Okanagan Military Tattoo in Vernon
“We wanted to do something new and different, and that’s why we went with the flash mob idea and I think it went well,” said Jake Flanders of the Okanagan Military Tattoo.
“The kids from the Calgary Round-Up Band, how excited they were playing and how excited the spectators were to see them. Everybody was clapping and cheering; it was really good to see.”
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The Calgary Round-Up Band will perform once again at the Okanagan Military Tattoo July 26-28 in Vernon.
Tickets are available at www.okanagantattoo.ca