On Sept. 6, at Gupton Stadium, the Cedar Park football team beat Vandegrift 46-49. But what most may not know is that the band was almost unable to perform for the halftime show for their first home game of the season. The main band trailer, also known as “Big Green,” got a flat tire 10 minutes before it was supposed to depart to the stadium that afternoon.

Realizing Big Green would no longer be capable of moving all the needed equipment, many parents rallied together, made phone calls and came together as a team of around 30 people all in the span of 20 minutes. These parents then unloaded the semi truck into several pickups, box trucks and a rental car borrowed from Leander High School. Band Parent Mike Prescott was one of the many who helped during the process.

“It became pretty apparent when we got partway down the parking lot that something wasn’t right,” Prescott said. “So then we checked out [Big Green] and realized that we couldn’t go any further.”

Several band members and directors had no knowledge of the situation until later. When Band Director Kendall Santos was told of the news, she decided to keep the band students on the bus at the stadium.

“I did not know until I was almost here [at Gupton],” Santos said. “I was passing under 183 when Mr. Yee called me, so I didn’t tell the students until we got here. I just kept everybody on the bus, and I said, ‘I’ll explain everything. Just keep everybody on the bus,’ which is unusual. Usually there’s a large group of students that exits and helps unload Big Green. But we kept them on the bus to keep them in the A/C for a little bit and so we could figure out who’s going to go to the stands and how we can best get the traffic flow moving.”

The volunteers were able to bring most of the instruments, however not all equipment would be able to fit into every vehicle. This included the entirety of the front ensemble, which consists of the marimbas, synths, vibraphones and the drum major’s podiums. Fortunately for the band, the Vandegrift Vipers Band was more than willing to help, and were able to lend over their equipment over for the halftime show. Pit Viper, Todd Zatopek, was a part of the crew who helped move all the equipment over.

“Well, I mean, I just talked to our band directors, and they were just glad to help,” Zatopek said. “I think the community, the band community, helps each other out all the time. That’s part of the band community; it supports each other. And that’s what’s great about the bands here in LISD.”

“I think the rivalries are more what people assume or what people think, but a lot of the directors are actually really great friends and very close,” Santos said. “And that kind of bleeds into the culture of the students and how the students treat each other. From program to program. It’s very supportive and very team oriented. So I wouldn’t really say that there’s band rivals. It’s more like band teammates and other band families across the district.”