With a 25-pound tuba slung across his torso and a float of 67,000 flowers at his side, Bayless High School band director Stephen Elford marched this month in the annual Rose Bowl Parade. The parade — which took place on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California — was a prelude to the Rose Bowl Game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“It was great,” Elford said. “I’ve seen the parade every year on TV, watching with family.”
Elford was one of roughly 350 musicians who marched in the Band Directors Marching Band. The band is part of the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit that does charity work in honor of Sewell, a long-time Ohio band director.
Elford discovered the opportunity to take part in the parade through a friend of his, who works as a band director at Parkway Schools. She had been part of the Band Directors Marching Band when they performed at the Macy’s Day Parade one year, and her involvement in that encouraged Elford to take part.
Elford was accepted via a “paper audition” showing his resume and qualifications. He says approximately 1,000 people applied; those accepted met twice over Zoom across the span of one year as they prepared for the event.
According to Elford, the 5.5-mile parade down Colorado Boulevard was no joke, especially while carrying and playing the heavy tuba.
“Except for walking alongside my students as a teacher, and then my own homecoming parade performances, I’ve never done a parade like that,” he said.
Elford’s favorite memory from his participation in the Rose Bowl Parade, however, is not from the parade at all — it happened the day before, at the float judging contest. The float behind the Band Directors Marching Band belonged to Donate Life America, a nonprofit organization that works in organ donations.
The Donate Life float was arrayed with photos of donors. As a kind gesture, the director of the Band Directors Marching Band struck up his musicians to play “Amazing Grace” for the organ recipients and families who were present.
“You’ve got 350 people playing ‘Amazing Grace.’ All the people from Donate Life — the donors’ families, the recipients, their families — were all there recording, and people were crying,” Elford said.
Elford says that, once the song was over, the director invited up one of the musicians who was near to tears. The musician explained that his eight-year-old daughter, who had passed, had been an organ donor, and her photo was on the Donate Life float.
“That was a very powerful moment,” Elford said. “In my entire life, that’s in the top 10 most memorable musical moments.”
On the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Float, those who wished to could “sponsor a rose” in honor of deceased loved ones, done with a small donation to the foundation. Elford says he sponsored a rose in honor of Bob Reeves, who worked on the custodial team at Bayless and passed in June. Elford messaged Bob’s wife, Susan, who also works at the school, to tell her that Bob was marching with him in the parade that day.
