Montrose Alumni Band fundraises for historic Philly parade trip

1-28-26

By Louis Gauthier
MONTROSE — This summer, the Montrose Marching Unit Alumni Band will travel to Philadelphia to perform in the Salute to Independence Parade on July 3, a signature event in the nation’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The trip will be more than just another parade. It will be a special opportunity to represent Montrose and the alumni band on a national stage, then return home in time to march in their hometown’s annual Fourth of July parade the next day.
Making the journey to Philadelphia possible, however, comes with a price tag. The alumni band is raising funds to help cover travel, hotel expenses, meals, new flags and uniforms, equipment rentals, the parade entry fee and more. Support from the community has already been strong, with the group reporting it is nearly halfway to its fundraising goal. To help push them closer, a community fundraiser will be held at the Montrose VFW on Sunday, Feb. 1.

The roots of the Montrose Marching Unit Alumni Band stretch back nearly a century. The Montrose Concert Band first formed at the local school in 1927. The marching unit itself began in 1973, when Dean Houck was hired as director at Montrose High School. Houck led the program until 1996, building a marching unit that grew to more than 200 members at one time and earned a reputation as a competitive powerhouse across Pennsylvania, neighboring states, and even in performance competitions as far away as Florida, creating what Alan Evans, the current chairman of the alumni band board, called a “winning model for a small town and small town school.”
Evans, a 1998 Montrose graduate, described the program under Houck as “a melting pot of kids that came together as a family.” A trumpet player himself, Evans recalled how he, Houck, and other members of the current band administration team met at the Montrose Inn in 2008 to talk about bringing an alumni band together and performing in public again.
Two years later the alumni band made its debut in the 2010 Montrose Fourth of July parade. The response was so positive that the group has returned every year since, guided by what Evans calls a motto of “pride, spirit, and hard work producing excellence.”
The excellence that the unit has created has not gone unnoticed. Following the 2025 Montrose parade, the band received an email from Todd Marcocci, producer of the Philadelphia 250th Salute to Independence Parade, informing them they had been selected to participate in the historic 2026 event.
Evans said “community support has always been strong”, and he expects the same for the upcoming fundraiser. The event will be held Sunday Feb 1st from noon to 4 p.m. at the VFW, located at 16972 State Route 706 in Montrose. It will feature a guided painting lesson taught by Emmy Award-winning artist Eric Lusk.
Reservations can be made by calling or testing Michelle Lusk at 570-665-9065. Advance tickets are $40 and can be purchased on Venmo at https://venmo.com/u/Michelle-Lusk-1. Tickets will also be available at the door for $42.