It is Friday night, and you are tangled in a mess of Christmas lights and tinsel. You string it along your instrument precisely, preparing for the day to come.

This is how Robinson band member Mariah Wilson (’18) spends her Friday night, preparing for the annual Snow On 7th parade.

“When I’m marching, the little kids see it and I’ll stop and put my horn down. They love it,” Wilson said. “I’m super extra… I like the attention and I like happy stuff, and it makes everyone happy.”

This is the sixth year the band has participated in Ybor’s annual holiday parade, dressing up in their best holiday spirit.

“We just started practicing our music last week, so we are going to be working on the music in class, and we are just going to have one rehearsal next week on Thursday,” band director Christopher Revett said. “There’s not a lot of preparation for it because we are working on how the kids march all year long… it’s just making sure we can march down the street and sound good.”

Band members Lyndsie Rastetter (’19) and Elijah Williams (’19) have performed in the parade in previous years, and are excited to perform again.

Whether it’s their first year performing or they are a holiday parade veteran, each band member takes something different from the parade experience.

“I love it so much. I love marching and playing,” Lyndsie Rastetter (’19) said. “[My favorite part] is seeing all the bands come together and make beautiful music.”

While Rastetter sees it as a chance to bring the community together, Elijah Williams (’19) sees the parade as a chance to bring the band together.

“I enjoy the spirit of everybody coming together cause we can all be happy and play together, and make it sound nice,” Williams said. “I’m most excited about the opportunity for everyone to play different instruments this year. Every year new people coming in try out new instruments and see how it is in case they want to join drum line in the future.”

The parade will be held on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in Ybor City Chamber of Commerce.

“I hope a lot of people can come out and see it,” Revett said. “There is going to be a ton of Hillsborough bands marching, it’s a really fun parade.”

Click here for more information on the parade.