PORT ANGELES — The Northwinds Homeschool Band is selling hanging flower baskets to raise money to attend a national competition in Washington, D.C.
The nonprofit band, made up of home-schooled students, is selling the baskets for $30 each. Discounts are available with the purchase of multiple baskets.
Having won gold medals in Heritage Festivals in Washington, D.C., in 2011 and in Anaheim, Calif., in 2014, the band has been invited to a Heritage Festival of Gold to compete against other gold medalists, said Director Dan Tutton.
Such festivals are held each year in four cities across the nation.
The group of some 40 to 50 young people has decided to compete in Washington, D.C., so they can take in the sights of the nation’s Capitol and visit the Smithsonian, Tutton said.
And because it will be expensive — abut $1,000 per student — the group has given itself two years to raise the money, having opted to make the trip in April 2017.
“We have to work at it for a couple of years,” Tutton said.
The annual hanging flower sale is the group’s biggest annual fundraiser. In 2014, the students made about $7,500.
Fundraising will help pay for a portion of the cost for each student, Tutton said.
Once in D.C., the band will compete against some 20 other ensembles, all of whom have won gold medals for their performances at other Heritage Festivals, Tutton said.
And they will get to perform in the Strathmore Music Center, home of the Baltimore Symphony and National Philharmonic, he added.
The band traveled in January to the Clark College Jazz Festival in Vancouver, Wash., where trombonist Jacob Kennedy was awarded one of only five solo awards in the A category, said Gina Lowman, parent volunteer.
Last month, the band also logged the three highest scores at the Western Washington Homeschool Band Festival in Kirkland, she said.
At the Anaheim Heritage Festival in Southern California last year, the band, competing against private and public school bands from all over the nation, won two gold awards, one silver award and two Maestro Awards for outstanding solos by David Kennedy and Jacob Kennedy.
The band also received the Spirit award for the one group that best represents their community.
At the Heritage Festival in Washington, D.C., in 2011, the band was awarded three gold medals, one silver medal, an Adjudicators Award for high score, a Maestro Award and the overall Outstanding Band Award.
To buy hanging baskets, phone 360-452-7189.
