Northeast Portland is throwing its 34th annual St Patrick's Day Parade (read the story of this quirky event here). It's a small but growing parade, we've enjoyed it, and they REALLY want us back. Besides, it's a good chance to practice our marching and warm up for the summer season.

Uniform:   DRESS uniform: TBGO polo shirt, TBGO hat, black pants/belt, black socks, black shoes. You may augment or substitute appropriate St Patrick's headgear for the TBGO hat. The weather is likely to be unpredictable. Rainy? Warm? Cool? Who knows! It makes choosing the correct jacket tricky, so ... you can choose! Any of these is fine:

• No jacket, with or without black turtleneck beneath the shirt;
• TBGO black lightweight jacket (if you don't have the jacket, may substitute any solid black non-logoed jacket);
• TBGO letterman jacket;
• Add clear plastic raincoat if you like.

NOTE: If you wear a jacket, please wear your shirt TUCKED-IN.

Additional garb and decorations:   This is a St Patrick's Day parade, so please do add green and shamrocks. You may augment or substitute appropriate St Patrick's headgear for the TBGO hat. Please don't alter other parts of the uniform (no kilts, bagpipes, sporrans, leprechaun shoes, etc).

Meet:   At Noon at Beverly Cleary School, NE 33rd Ave and NE Hancock St. (See map; click here for printable PDF). (Click here for Google map and directions.) We will stage in the blacktop area behind the school.

Parking:   Parking is primarily on-street and not difficult; see map for options. the CVS Pharmacy has also okayed the use of their parking lot. (Wouldn't hurt to throw them a little business ...)

Parade Route: Parade steps off at 1 PM heading west on Hancock St, turns north on 17th Ave, then returns to the school on Tillamook St. Parade route is about 1.6 mi long. Expect parts of the route to be narrow (kinda like Multnomah Village).

Parade Music:

1. Dancing in the Street
2. Fireball
3. I'm Shipping Up to Boston
4. Venus

Interest Poll for Australia / New Zealand November 2023

The successful Phoenix trip leads the Board to believe that the band may be ready to travel again.  With that in mind, we are looking ahead to November 2023 and planning for the long-delayed trip to Australia with optional extension to New Zealand.

Many things have changed since we originally took trip signups in February 2020: COVID of course but also increasing prices for travel (especially air prices) and changing life situations (we're all three years older).  We also have band associates who weren't yet part of the band in 2020 but now have the opportunity to join the trip.  Before going further with planning, we'd like to gauge how many of you have the interest, time, and available cash to make the trip, so we've created a short interest poll (see link below). The poll is only advisory and does NOT commit you to any travel plans. However, we would appreciate your best guess about your likelihood of signing up so that we can decide whether to proceed further with planning.

Below you'll find a brief overview of what the trip would entail.  We don't have good estimates of cost yet, but you'll also find the cost estimates we did in 2020.  However, you should realize that these are just APPROXIMATIONS and may change either up (more expensive everything) or down (New Zealand extension is shorter than the 2020 plans).  You can also use these links to get more detailed information about original plans for the 2020 trip as an example of what 2023 might look like.

• 2020 Trip Details
• 2020 Detailed Australia Itinerary
• 2020 Detailed New Zealand Itinerary

One final reminder: When deciding whether to book this trip it's important that you be in reasonably good health to handle the demands of this trip. You must be able to get on/off the motor coaches in reasonable fashion and there will be some walking. Those not in good health can cause delays each day on the tour and hold things up for the rest of the tour participants. Should you fall in this category you may need to strongly re-evaluate if a trip as such is for you. Alternatively, you may need to bring along someone with you (family or caregiver) to insure you have someone who can assist you each and every day to avoid becoming a burden to other travelers. Getting through airports is yet another area to consider since it entails getting through security and walking long distances to immigration and flight gates. Being aware of these expectations and your limitations, and then making thoughtful choices will ensure that we can provide a great experience for everyone.

2023 Trip Overview

The National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant is the largest single-day parade in the southern hemisphere, the second biggest in the world (behind the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City), and the largest Christmas Parade in the world. It is officially recognised as a "heritage icon" by the National Trust of Australia and a "state institution" by the Government of South Australia. The pageant takes place in the Adelaide city centre, along a 3.35 km (2 mi) route.

In 1896, Mr Edward Waterfield Hayward established the Christmas fantasy world of the 'Magic Cave' to provide a joyful community Christmas experience. Thirty-seven years later during the Great Depression in 1933 the first Christmas Pageant was held to escort Father Christmas to the Magic Cave. 200,000 spectators came to watch that first Pageant, which featured eight floats and four bands and ran for around 40 minutes. The event now thrills over 320,000 excited parade-goers and a television audience with 1,700 volunteers, including some 63 floats, 15 bands, 164 clowns, dancing groups, and walking performers, all culminating in the arrival of Father Christmas.

As noted above, the parade takes place in Adelaide.  In addition to Adelaide we will visit/sightsee in Melbourne and Sydney.  See the 2020 Detailed Australia Itinerary for examples of possible attractions.

An option "prequel extension" to New Zealand is available for those who want to explore a bit of that country.  The New Zealand extension happens BEFORE the Australia part of the trip (this is reversed from the 2020 plan).  Sightseeing in New Zealand may include some or all of Christchurch, Queenstown, Auckland, and the beautiful New Zealand countryside.  See the 2020 Detailed New Zealand Itinerary for examples of possible attractions.

DEPARTURE IF YOU ELECT THE OPTIONAL NEW ZEALAND EXTENSION

Dates:  Depart U.S. November 1, 2023 for New Zealand, arriving NZ November 3 (International Dateline).  6 night tour of New Zealand.  Fly to Adelaide on November 9 and follow AUSTRALIA ITINERARY.

DEPARTURE FOR AUSTRALIA-ONLY TOUR:

Dates:  Depart U.S. November 7, 2023 to Australia, arriving Adelaide November 9 (International Dateline).  Follow AUSTRALIA ITINERARY.

AUSTRALIA ITINERARY:

Parade day is November 11.  On November 12, fly to Melbourne for 2 night stay.  On November 14 fly to Sydney for 3 night stay.  On November 17 depart Australia for U.S., arriving same day (International Dateline).

ESTIMATED PRICE:

Again I should emphasize:  PRICING IS NOT SET, THESE APPROXIMATIONS ARE FROM 2020 PLANS. These estimates are for a performing Band Associate in Double Occupancy accommodations using Economy airfare. 

OTHER TRAVEL OPTIONS:

Yes, you'll be able to do selected pre-or post-trip customization like always.  Yes, you can use air travel miles if appropriate.  Yes, there will be options for business class air travel.  Just assume we'll do sensible things like we have on previous band trips.

Long-Term Travel Plans

Major Road Trips

The Board talks with members informally to get travel ideas, and there's no shortage of fun things to do. We've built a long-term travel plan using these criteria:

• Take account of the "recurring themes" we hear when talking to band associates about travel opportunities.
• Target events with "cool factor". If we only get to do one a year, it oughta count!
• Emphasize trips that center around existing events with large, enthusiastic crowds. It's more fun to play for lots of people, and it's a lot easier to draw a crowd when someone else has already done all the work.
• Have a reasonable belief that it's a trip/event we can successfully execute.
• Target locations that are likely to have broad appeal to members as "destinations" - there should be fun, exciting touristy things we can do while we are in the area.
• Try to keep major events 9-15 months apart.
• Work to keep each trip affordable to the best of our ability.
• "Start spreading the news" - work on bringing the band to each major area of the country (and beyond).
• In general, avoid duplicating major trips that we've done previously - we ain't gettin' any younger and there are LOTS of places to go!
• Look beyond one year to put a multi-year plan in place. We think that a roadmap makes it easier for both the band staff and band associates to plan ahead, and it can also act as a recruiting tool.

Regional Trips and Mini-Trips

Besides our annual "big road trip", we make a conscious effort to broaden our reach in regional events. This will certainly include day trips, but we'd also love to add one or two "mini-trips" each year if the band can support it. In general, we'd try to space mini-trips so that they don't fall right on top of a major trip (i.e., we'll try to create "breathing room" between trips as much as we can.) A mini-trip would typically be closer to home, include a 1-2 night hotel stay, and have lower cost. Examples of mini-trips that we've done include the Autumn Leaf Festival in Leavenworth (WA), Wenatchee Appleblossom Festival, Pendleton Round-Up, Medford Pear Blossom Festival, White Rock (BC) Sea Festival, and Rogers Santa Claus Parade (Vancouver, BC).

Active Travel Plan

In March 2023 the TBGO Board unveiled a new multi-year travel plan at a Zoom meeting, including both regional and major national/international trips through 2028. Here are several options for viewing the plan.

Click the cover slide at right for a video of the Zoom meeting presentation (runs 45:27).
Click the cover slide at right to download a self-running slide show with details of the plan and its trips. It may take a bit for the presentation to download since it's large (114 MB). Launch after it downloads and you can then advance through it using mouse, space bar, enter key, arrow keys, etc.
Click the cover slide at right for a PDF of the presentation. It loses the lovely animations and transitions, but you get all the text.
Click the grid at right for a one-page PDF summary of the plan.