When Virginian Sherman Smith heard the University of Utah marching band got a last-minute invitation to perform at the presidential inauguration, the 1978 U. graduate figured there was no way the band's 130 members would find hotel rooms anywhere near Washington, D.C., much less ground transportation to the parade route.
So Smith hit the phones and within a day conceived a solution: Band members could stay with families he knows in Ashburn, just outside Dulles International Airport and 40 minutes from downtown Washington.
"The biggest challenge was this bus thing," said Smith, a financial consultant who grew up in Salt Lake City. "We're not going to not have them come because we couldn't get three buses."
For five hours on Wednesday, he phoned bus companies all over the Eastern Seaboard before he found one in Trenton, N.J., that would provide three buses for a mere $12,000.
Smith's efforts, which solved some sticky logistical problems and will save money on hotel rooms, put the Marching Utes several steps closer to the Obama inauguration, said U. School of Music Director Robert Walzel,
"Logistically it's fantastic, because the nearest hotel rooms were in Richmond and Philadelphia," he said Friday. "We are so lucky to get these accommodations because hotel rooms are at premium."
More work is needed to secure the private donations to pay for the trip, originally estimated to cost $150,000. Four days into a crash fund-raising effort, the U. has $85,000.
"We're more than half the way there, and we had another good day today. We're feeling optimistic," Walzel said. "The swell of support from the community has been incredible."
Two Utah restaurant chains have agreed to donate a portion of their gross sales to the effort. All 16 of the state's Applebee's are giving 10 percent of Monday's sales, while some Cold Stone Creamery locations will give Tuesday evening's proceeds.
"A normal Monday would generate about $7,000 or $8,000 at Applebee's," Walzel said. "We're trying to get everyone to go to Applebee's that day and it would be a lot more."
Assuming the money comes through, the band will take a chartered flight to Dulles on Jan. 18 and be bused straight to Ashburn's LDS stake center where students will be distributed among local families, Smith said. Smith has reserved a rental truck to transport the band's equipment. The next day the band members could tour the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, where a new visitor center recently opened at the Pennsylvania national monument.
At 5 a.m. on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, the buses will take the band to a parade staging area at the Pentagon. A police escort will guide the parade participants' buses to the starting area at the Capitol for the one-mile march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. That afternoon, the band will go straight to the airport for the chartered flight back to Utah.
"This is an amazing honor for the University of Utah and the students who work so hard throughout the year," read a statement from band director Brian Sproul. "It is a privilege for the state of Utah to have a representative at this historic event, and if we are fortunate enough to take part, we will make everyone proud."
How to help: You can pledge by logging on to the U. Web site at www.utah.edu, or by calling 800-716-0377.
