For parade judge Paul Beauchesne, a pitch-perfect rivalry between the Reynolds and Spectrum high school bands — this year Spectrum came out on top — was among the highlights of evaluating Monday’s 120th annual Island Farms Victoria Day Parade.
Beauchesne was one of five band judges and nine overall judges behind a table on an elevated platform in front of Victoria City Hall and Centennial Square, awarding scores to the floats, performers, and American and Canadian bands.
“It’s kind of fun to watch the rivalries especially for the local schools,” said Beauchesne, who moved to Victoria about 12 years ago to play tuba with the Victoria Symphony.
“Lately it’s been Reynolds and Spectrum,” said Beauchesne, before the parade started.
“Spectrum has been giving Reynolds a run for its money. It’s interesting because Jamie Davis, who was at Spectrum, is now at Reynolds, so the saga continues.”
Davis, the director of bands at Reynolds Secondary School in Victoria, taught previously for 11 years at Spectrum Community School where he rebuilt a two-band program into a multi-level and widely varied program of band classes including a marching band.
This year, Spectrum won first place for Canadian marching bands; last year it was Reynolds.
The Victoria Day Parade, organized by the Greater Victoria Festival Society, is the longest parade in Greater Victoria.
This year it was the shortest in years, clocking in at two hours, six minutes, “which was our ultimate goal four years ago when we began this,” said Kelly Kurta, referring to when she took over running the parade as executive director of the society.
However, it also drew one of its smallest crowds in recent years, a decline that organizers hope signals an increase in online viewing that was heavily promoted this year.
Band judges were asked to award a score of one through 10 for criteria in three categories: music performance, visual performance, and overall effect.
Jeff Haag, band director for Kingston Middle School in Washington state, said it was an honour to act as a guest judge. His band has been performing here every three years since 1997, and will be back next in 2019. “I love the Canadian bands’ precision and discipline and that they are learning so much and growing and getting stronger,” said Haag.
Mike Keddy, band teacher at St. Margaret’s School in Saanich, said it’s “really difficult to choose one as the top band. It can come within one mark sometimes.”
Afterward, judges debrief “and we sometimes argue,” said Keddy, with a laugh. “It can get very, very competitive.”
Cheryl Wirch-Ryckman of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, one of the judges for floats and performers, said she’s looking for creativity, design, colour, animation “and the fact that it represents the Victoria Day Parade.”
Tabulators work with the judges to keep track of the scoring, pouring the information into a spreadsheet on a laptop.
Going over it all was official auditor Cassie Niessen. “I’m a marching band geek and a spreadsheet geek,” said Niessen, an accountant. She said as a former marching band member, there’s no better job than to be on the judges’ platform.
“When you’ve been in a band it’s always a part of you and then to see other kids going through that … it’s just awesome.”
Niessen said when you’re a Canadian marching band there’s no doubt the American bands — often bigger with extravagant costumes — can be intimidating. But there’s nothing like the hometown welcome local bands receive, she said.
“When you walk by in your school colours, whether you’re Oak Bay or Reynolds or Spectrum, and people go crazy because they went to that school or their kids go to that school, you have that, so it doesn’t matter that you’re not marching with fabulous hats or doing fancy moves and everything.”
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who participated in the start of the parade and then watched from a podium in front of City Hall, said the parade celebrates the diversity of the city. “It’s a really multicultural, diverse place and it’s exciting.”
That multicultural component included participation by the Songhees First Nation and Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, Filipino, Bulgarian, Indian, German and Nepalese associations.
Kim Breiland, artistic director for Stages Dance Co., shed a tear as a Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King helicopter from 443 Squadron and a CF-18 Hornet flew overhead in honour of the Saskatchewan city of Humboldt, a touching start to the parade.
“We hold those people so dear to our hearts,” said Breiland, speaking of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team players who lost their lives on April 6, when their team bus collided with a truck, and the friends and family who mourn them. “It just gets me.”
During the flypast, Stages dancers stepped to the rhythm of songs from the 1940s and 1950s through to Bruno Mars’ 2016 release of Perm.
For 10-year-old Victoria Hunter, the youngest member of Stages Dance, there were no tears and only an irrepressible smile.
“It’s really, really, really fun to perform and it’s nice to perform in the street. Dance is the best part of my life,” said Victoria, who has been dancing since age two.
The parade boasted colourful costumes, lots of dancing, clowns and a performance of daring motorcycle feats — riding over a log on the back of a truck. The group won best overall entry for their engagement with the crowd.
The parade followed a straight line as thousands gathered along Douglas Street between Finlayson and Humboldt streets, starting at 9 a.m. with 95 entries plus military groups.
After the parade, Celebration Square, a family-friendly event in Centennial Square, featured a bouncy castle, children’s entertainment and food trucks from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
A 21-gun salute took place on Belleville Street at 1 p.m.
