Matthew Binder and Katelyn Rehatchek were enjoying the summer before their eighth-grade year. Ella Cronk was about to enter seventh grade.

Palmerton Area High School’s marching band was nonexistent and the concert band was a shell of its former self.

Playing at their own home football games seemed like a pipe-dream, let alone taking a show on the road.

Fast forward to 2018 and they are now upperclassmen preparing to embark on a journey that will lead them down Main Street USA during a parade in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Palmerton’s chorus, concert band and marching band are all departing for Florida on Sunday with three performances scheduled for next week.

“I remember playing at football games when we were small and new,” said Rehatchek, a senior and tenor saxophone player. “Now we’re one of the bigger bands and it feels good to know we were part of building this foundation. “I’ve never been to Disney, so I’m very excited to make memories and experience it with some of my best friends.”

A long way

In 2009, Palmerton was left without a marching band or a jazz band. The concert band was down to four students.

After a five-year absence, band director and high school music teacher Tom Heinick reached out to students in an effort to revive the band.

The marching band grew to 18 or 19 students and is now 50 members strong.

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“I’ve always said there are plenty of talented kids in this school,” Heinick said. “When I started here in 1980, the band was not big and it wasn’t powerful, but there were talented kids and we just had to give them a chance. This school district has given these kids the chance to find that talent, develop that talent and now take it on the road and display it.”

One of the students who played a key role in the band’s resurgence is Binder, a piccolo player and drum major.

He, like many of the current band members, had taken lessons throughout elementary and middle school. He was quick to sign up when efforts to restart the band materialized.

“We came from very small numbers and it just snowballed,” Binder, a senior, said. “This year, we got new uniforms and the support from the administration here, our parents and the community has been really encouraging.”

Playing at Disney has always been a dream for Binder. Last week, after the band finished marching 2 miles during a practice session, he took a moment to look forward to the trip.

“We’ve been playing constantly,” he said. “It has been a lot of hard work, but it’s going to pay off next week. I’m very excited to play in the parade. It will be an amazing experience.”

Memories to be made

Cronk has been playing clarinet since fourth grade. Now a junior, she looks forward to putting all her practice to work in front of a large Walt Disney World Crowd.

It will be so amazing to go with my friends, many of whom I didn’t even know until I got involved in the band,” she said. “I’m thinking about seeing the looks on little kids’ faces as we pass. We’re in the pre-parade, but I know people line up hours ahead of time so there will be a lot of eyes on us. It’s going to be very cool.”

The trip came about after successful performances in Williamsburg, Virginia, two years ago.

“It was such a great experience, and the band in general has gone way above what we could have hoped for in recent years,” Heinick said. “The quality of the performances has gotten so much better. The enthusiasm and dedication is there. After that trip, we said let’s finally take that trip to Disney.”

Almost immediately, fundraisers started with a car wash and later included bake sales, concession stand sales, and an annual bingo event among others.

Heinick said the national and international exposure that comes from the Disney performances will be good for the students, the school and the town.

“A few years ago, we had a districtwide goal or initiative to try to make that Palmerton dot on the map a little bigger,” he said. “We like to think we’re doing that through all of our performances, both locally and with this trip.”

Performances

The concert band will perform at 11 a.m. Monday, the marching band will perform at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the chorus will perform Wednesday at 11 a.m.

All performances will be streamed live, and archived for later viewing, on the Palmerton Music Parents YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmI-7-j6Itg-tg3FLkCxdpQ. The video will also be embedded at tnonline.com

FOR A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE BAND, VISIT: https://www.tnonline.com/palmerton-band-2018