South and North Medford high schools have combined their marching bands and color guards and are heading to Washington, D.C., to play as one in the National Memorial Day Parade.

“Every year, every state wants to send a band to this parade, and our mayor wanted to send North or South. The band directors are friends, and they were like, ‘Why don’t we just both go? Make like one big megaband.’ They’ve been talking about combining for years now,” said South Medford High School senior Sam Thompson.

The megaband was named Medford United Marching Band and Color Guard and won the nomination to be the high school band representing Oregon in the annual parade in the nation’s capital.

Only one band from each state is chosen for the parade, according to a release from Medford School District. Medford City Council’s Community Initiative Fund awarded $75,000 to the district to help support the students’ travel and other expenses for the big event.

The students flew to Washington, D.C., Friday and will return Tuesday, May 30.

The parade will be broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX at 11 a.m. PDT, according to the Washingtonian website.  

The route will move down Constitution Avenue to Seventh Street Northwest, to 17th Street Northwest. Colbie Caillat, Andy Grammar and Craig Morgan will perform at a pre-parade show, and the grand marshals of the parade are all astronauts. 

Russell “Rusty” Schweickart from Apollo 9, Charlie Duke from Apollo 16, Harrison “Jack” Schmitt from Apollo 17, Retired U.S. Marine and current NASA astronaut Randy “Komrade” Bresnik will all marshal the parade together. 

Thompson has been the South Medford band’s drum major and a trombone player. He stood in the shade in front of two buses Friday morning, their bottom storage compartments open and ready for luggage. A gaggle of students slowly moved out of the building in front of him, excitedly chattering and laughing as they prepared to load up the buses and enjoy a police escort for their journey to the Medford airport and then across the country.

He said unlike sports, which can feel exclusive to size and strength, band brings together many different kinds of students and can be joined by almost anyone. He smiled to say this was his last day of high school. Next year, he’ll be going to Rogue Community College to become a firefighter.

He gestured to his purple T-shirt — a combination of both schools’ colors, red and blue — as a symbol of the group’s unity. When the bands played together for the first time at a school board meeting a few months ago, he said there were no kinks — everything felt smooth and natural. Both bands played each other’s fight songs and came together in easy harmony.

“We got like 200 kids together from two schools, to come together and just play some music — that’s beautiful,” he said.

For all the unity, he still maintained some Panther pride.

“Their wind ensemble is phenomenal. They got us beat there this year. But I think we got them beat on marching. As the drum major, I notice that. I like our odds on that,” he said.

Edna Moala, a sophomore clarinet player in South Medford’s band, flashed a giddy, nervous smile at the thought of the trip.

“It’s not the first time I’ve flown, but I’ve never flown so far, and I’ve never been away from my family for this long before,” the 15-year-old said.

For her, band is an exciting challenge and an extra avenue for college scholarships. She said she’s also passionate about sports and hopes to play volleyball, “like, forever honestly.”

She almost declined the trip, she said, worrying about how she would ship her instrument and how far away it was.

“But then I thought, you know what, just go for it. I want to have a good time with my friends. Not too good of a time — we’ll do a good job,” she said.