The Columbus North High School Sound of North band has hit its goal of $125,000 in pledges, the monetary amount needed to send the Sound of North to perform in the Jan. 20 inauguration parade for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, a 1977 Columbus North graduate.
Rep. Milo Smith, R-Columbus, said the Columbus-based Haddad Foundation pledged the final $8,000 needed to put the band at $125,000.
Smith said he saw Pence at Gov. Eric Holcomb’s inauguration on Monday.
The outgoing Indiana governor said, to Smith, “We made it, didn’t we?” in reference to the band’s parade appearance in Washington, D.C.
Pence had asked Smith during a Veterans Day ceremony at Camp Atterbury to find a way to get his alma mater’s band into the inaugural parade — and Smith pledged to make it happen.
Tammy Burton and Tracy Haddad, who are directors for the foundation, said Smith had contacted them when the campaign to raise money for the band was announced and a seed was planted then. As the community rallied around the cause, the foundation decided to kick in the final thousands to ensure the Sound of North had enough money to go to the inauguration, they said.
The Haddad Foundation has supported North’s band in previous years, including help with the purchasing uniforms, Burton and Haddad said.
