After thieves stole almost 1 / 4 of Ashland High’s instruments during a Disney trip, fast motion and neighborhood help ensured each pupil nonetheless carried out.
ASHLAND, Ohio — Even after thieves stole dozens of musical instruments during a as soon as‑in‑a‑lifetime trip to Walt Disney World, Ashland High School’s band didn’t miss a beat.
Roughly 1 / 4 of the band’s instruments have been stolen in a single day during the group’s Florida trip, simply hours earlier than college students have been scheduled to carry out in a Disney parade. The theft left college students and employees scrambling, however because of fast pondering, neighborhood help and assist from music shops lots of of miles away, each pupil nonetheless carried out.
“We discovered it Sunday morning, and the band had to march Monday,” mentioned Marty Kral, Ashland High School’s head band director and music division chair. “They had to think really fast.”
The college students had arrived in Florida Saturday evening as a part of the varsity’s 4‑12 months custom of taking the band, orchestra and choir to Disney, a culminating expertise many college students save and fundraise for all through highschool.
According to officers, the group introduced 4 tour buses and a trailer carrying instruments and gear. When employees went to unload the trailer Sunday morning, they discovered the locks lacking.
“They took whatever they could grab quickly, flutes, clarinets, saxophones and some trumpets,” mentioned Michael Metcalf, proprietor of Mike’s Music Corner in Ashland. “Probably 20 to 30 instruments easily.”
The theft impacted about 20% of the band’s instruments, leaving college students with out the instruments that they had skilled with for years.
“For a lot of kids, those instruments are part of who they are,” Metcalf mentioned. “They’ve had them since fifth grade. It’s like losing a piece of yourself.”
With simply hours to spare, band leaders reached out to Music & Arts, a nationwide music retailer that companions with Mike’s Music Corner. Two Music & Arts places within the Orlando space opened on Sunday and labored rapidly to lease substitute instruments.
“It took two stores to get everything we needed,” mentioned assistant band director Cameron Dietrich. “But by Sunday night, we had instruments back in kids’ hands.”
There was even one final‑minute hurdle: the band was nonetheless one instrument quick. That downside was solved after a Facebook message to a different Ohio college band performing in Disney that very same weekend.
Around midnight, employees met a stranger, a guardian from the Anna High School band in Ohio, to borrow the ultimate saxophone.
“It was a really powerful moment of band families coming together,” Dietrich mentioned.
Ultimately, each Ashland pupil carried out, some on instruments that they had by no means performed earlier than.
“About 20% of the kids in that parade were using instruments they’d never touched,” Kral mentioned. “And they still nailed it.”
The band marched down Main Street at Walt Disney World on Monday, taking part in “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from “Toy Story,” drawing cheers from crowds and beaming smiles from dad and mom lining the route.
“They didn’t miss a beat,” Metcalf mentioned.
Students are actually ending their trip and are anticipated to return to Ashland on Thursday. Donations and gives of assist have continued pouring in from the neighborhood.
Local police in Orange County, Florida, are investigating the theft and reviewing lodge surveillance video, however no arrests have been introduced.
Kral says regardless of the setback, the expertise has proven college students one thing simply as significant because the efficiency itself.
“We tell our kids to celebrate success,” he mentioned. “And the success here is that no matter what happened, every kid performed. Nobody brought us down.”
