Band Trip to Chicago

First Big Band Trip that I.H.S. Band Took

June 1958

 Our trip as the Official Band of the Texas Lions Club to march in the International Lions Club Convention parade was the first out-of-state trip of the Cobra Band. Mr. Fassino had this trip planned right down to the minute to make sure it was an educational as well as a fun trip.  After training to march in the long parade by marching from LaSalle to Vanderbilt numerous times, we left Vanderbilt on school buses and boarded two chartered buses in Houston.  Lunch that day was somewhere around Livingston-Lufkin area.  We arrived in Texarkana late the first day just in time for one of many meals in a cafeteria.  On the way to St. Louis, we were driven around the Capital of Arkansas and by the school in Little Rock, Arkansas which was at the center of the desegregation battle.  Breakfast the second day of our trip was in the St. Louis bus terminal and lunch was in Pontiac, Illinois.  After arriving at our hotel in Chicago about 4-5 pm and checking in, we walked to a cafeteria for dinner.  While in Chicago, in no specific order, we:  

1.   Marched in the Lions Club Parade, which was somewhere around 4-5 miles long, playing a march and doing a dance step to “Ain’t She Sweet?. 

2.   Attended a dance for the high school bands which was hosted by the Connecticut Lions Club and on the way to the dance we were driven along Lovers Lane.   

3.   Were taken by bus to see and experience Skid Row and the soup lines.  A real eye opener for all of us.   

4.   Visited the Museum of Science and Industry, the largest Science museum in the Western Hemisphere, built as part of the 1893 World's Fair.  We had 4 hours to roam this fantastic wonderland seeing things like a German U-boat, riding down a mine shaft to watch how coal is mined, watching a live radio station, seeing planes hanging from the ceiling, etc., before heading back to the hotel.  On the way, we all got to wade in Lake Michigan, a COLD experience.  

5.   Attended a movie and got to go shopping on LaSalle Street.  Macys was a big hit.  

6.   Went to the top of the Prudential Building.  

7.   The miracle of miracles of the trip was that all 55 band members and sponsors from a small community in South Texas managed to get on and off a subway at the same time on the way to and from  a double-header baseball game in Wrigley Field.  We also got to drive around Soldiers Field, the home of the Chicago Bears.  The last night we were in Chicago, Mr. Fassino treated us with a dinner in a real restaurant instead of a cafeteria, dropping 10-12 band members and  a sponsor off  at different places so as not to overcrowd the restaurants.  On the way home, we detoured into Springfield, Illinois in order to drive by the Capital and to see where Abe Lincoln lived.  Cannot remember the rest of the trip-sleep deprived, tired and weary, we did not dare sleep because if we did, we got toothpaste on our faces or shaving cream squirted in our shoes.  Our band director, Mr. Fassino, and his wife were from Chicago.  What excitement for us Country kids!