Riverside band and chorus heads to Hawaii for Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade

GAINESVILLE - The Riverside Military Band and Men's Chorus is on the way to Hawaii Thursday to take part in the annual Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade.<br /> <br /> Band Director Katy Wilson said the group has a full schedule with three separate performances scheduled.<br /> <br /> The first performance is the parade, which is set for the evening of December 7. The group will perform a patriotic medley.<br /> <br /> The next day, on December 8, the band and chorus will perform at the USS Missouri. "We had a piece commissioned... written by local composer Miles Adams and we're going to premier that piece at the Missouri," Wilson said.<br /> <br /> The last stop is at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, informally known as "The Punchbowl," where four Riverside alumni are laid to rest. Wilson said the group will perform a formal wreath laying and a memorial service for the alumni interred there.<br /> <br /> Wilson said the group also has some beach time and other activities scheduled while they are there.<br /> <br /> Wilson said that the band was extended an official invitation in summer 2013 by the Chairman of the Selection Committee for the parade, who nominated participants for the parade and opening ceremony.<br /> <br /> "The first nominations are given to units in the eight states that have battleships in Pearl Harbor named after them, and then the committee nominates from the other 19 states that have battleships named after them elsewhere, and then there are four, at-large-unit invitations that are then extended to ensembles in the remaining states that don't have a battleship representing their state," said Wilson. "Riverside received one of the at-large invitations."<br /> <br /> The 86 cadets, several parent chaperones and faculty makes up 100 people heading to Hawaii for the parade. The Radford High School band director in Hawaii has offered to lend the group some marching equipment to help the group's travels. The group has been preparing all year for the parade.<br /> <br /> "We've worked hard for this and we're ready for it," said Wilson.