2009 Events

Date	Event	Notes
January 20, 2009	Presidential Inaugural Parade (Washington, DC)	Our 15th Anniversary season kicks off with an amazing opportunity to be part of history! The Get a Life Marching Band will strut its stuff down Pennsylvania Avenue following the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. Parade steps off at 2:30 PM Eastern Time and should be televised nationally. We are PSYCHED!
February 7, 2009	Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade (San Francisco, CA)	If one road trip is good, two are better! GAL treks south for its first visit to San Francisco to ring in the Year of the Ox. Voted one of the top ten parades in the country, the San Francisco Chinese Year Parade puts over 100 illuminated units on the street for a crowd of hundreds of thousands. The 1.2 mile parade route steps off at 6 PM from Market Street, loops around Union Square, then heads down Kearny into the heart of the city's famous Chinatown. Live TV coverage, of course! GAL has done some amazing parades over the last decade; this will be another one that you'll be bragging about to "the new kids" in the band for years to come.
March 8, 2009 (Sun)	Private Birthday Party (Hillsboro, OR)	Someone's getting a surprise! We're looking forward to a fun afternoon with a birthday crowd. Cake is always better with sprinkles on top, and this time we're going to "sprinkle" it with a little GAL craziness!
April 25, 2009 (Sat)	82nd Avenue Parade of the Roses (Portland, OR)	Actually, we're sitting this parade out -- but we WILL be playing a show at Eastport Plaza following the parade. C'mon out and kick off spring with the band!
May 3, 2009 (Sun)	Loyalty Days Parade (Long Beach, WA)	GAL played this event for the first time in 2006 and landed a First Place award, then carried off the Sweepstakes Award as best of the entire parade in 2007. The 2009 theme is TBD. Parade steps off at 1PM; we'll also play a standstill show at the bandstand (3rd and Pacific) following the parade, around 3:00 PM.
May 30, 2009 (Sat)	Oregon 150 Parade (Wilsonville, OR)	2009 is the Sesquicentennial (150th Birthday) of the State of Oregon and Wilsonville has something very special planned -- its first parade in decades! The Parade itself is organized in decades, with each decade from the 1850’s to 2000’s having two entries (hmmm ... wonder if we fall in the "old fossil" camp!). The Parade will step off at 10 AM at the Parker Johnstone Honda Dealership and meander along Memorial Drive past the Parks to end up at City Hall. Stick around at the Arts Festival afterward where we'll be playing a standstill.
July 4, 2009 (Sat)	Hillsboro Rotary Club 4th of July Parade (Hillsboro, OR)	Hillsboro gears up for a HUGE Independence Day Parade every year, and we'll celebrate with them for a second straight year. We'll probably hit the Kiwanis breakfast early, and then the parade steps off at 10 AM. It's likely we'll also be at the Washington County Courthouse as the parade got underway, so keep yer eyes peeled!
July 4, 2009 (Sat)	Hillsboro Burgerville 2401 NE Cornell Rd Hillsboro, OR	What are we doing after the Hillsboro Parade? Remember our 2009 motto: "Cogito ergo food (I think, therefore I eat)". That's right - we're going to lunch at Burgerville! Following lunch, we'll be performing some of our standstill tunes accompanied by the stories and pictures from our trip to the Inaugural Parade back in January. Join us from 1-5 PM for Food, Music, Food, Storytelling, Food, Fun, and Food (did we mention food?). Meet and talk with the band members who marched down Pennsylvania Avenue at the pleasure of our new president. We'll have stories and photos from the trip plus PLENTY of music. It will be noisy, fun, and energizing - come learn what it's like to be an Inaugural Band! A portion of all sales during the hours listed will be donated to the GAL Band to help defray our Inauguration expenses, so eat AFTER 1 PM and eat hearty! <grin>
July 18, 2009 (Sat)	Troutdale Parade (Portland, OR)	To celebrate our 15th anniversary season, GAL goes back to where it all began! Troutdale was our first-ever parade back in 1994, so we're making the scene again!
July 25, 2009 (Sat)	Seattle SeaFair Torchlight Parade (Seattle, WA)	It's not "for sure" yet, but it looks like we will be traveling to Seattle to be part of SeaFair's Alaska Airlines Torchlight Parade for the first time since 2001. This year's parade, with its "Legends of the Sea" theme, is the parade's 60th anniversary celebration. Parade coverage begins at 8 PM on Seattle's KIRO TV. This will be GAL's third major parade of the 2009 season - wahoo!!! (If this parade is confirmed, we will miss the event below and plan to be back at THPRD in 2010)
Aug 2, 2009 (Sun)	Mt Tabor Park Centennial Celebration (Portland, OR)	To the best of our knowledge, we've never played an extinct volcano before - so it's time to get started. Mt. Tabor Park was established in 1909, so the Friends of Mt Tabor are throwing a party. As one of many events throughout the weekend, GAL will play a standstill show in the amphitheater (northwest corner of the park) beginning at 4 PM. And if you catch us parading through the park BEFORE that time, don't be surprised!
Aug 8, 2009 (Sat)	Vernonia Friendship Jamboree (Vernonia, OR)	2007 was our first visit to Vernonia and we had a darn fine time. We're going back again this year to make sure it wasn't a fluke! Join us for the parade and then the standstill in Shay Park afterward.
Aug 9, 2009 (Sun)	Providence Bridge Pedal (Portland, OR)	In case you hadn't noticed, Portland is a bicyclin' kind of town. Each year, the Providence Bridge Pedal gives bikers and opportunity to ride all of Portland's bridges in one day, including the top decks of the Fremont and Marquam bridges. This year, GAL will be part of the festivities for the first time. At 8:30 AM we'll be at SW Naito Parkway at Salmon St to send the 6-bridge riders on their way, then will move down the Parkway to Ash St to welcome all the returning riders between 10 AM and Noon.
Aug 15, 2009 (Sat)	Multnomah Village Parade (Portland, OR)	If it's August, it must be time for the Biggest Little Parade in Oregon! We love the folks in Multnomah Village, and they've been kind enough to return the favor. Multnomah was the event that inspired National Public Radio's 2006 story on the band, and our Presidential Inaugural Parade bid got a boost from a Ron Wyden staffer who saw us here every year, so we're definitely looking forward to being back again!
Aug 18, 2009 (Tue)	Clackamas County Fair (Canby, OR)	The Clackamas County Fair kicks off on the morning of August 18 and we'll have a "small version" of the band on hand for the festivities. Look for us as you enter the Fairgrounds, at the Opening Ceremonies, and then onstage with a show to get the Fair started right!
Sep 12, 2009 (Sat)	MAX Green Line Opening Day (Portland, OR)	Tri-Met's new MAX Green Line makes its first run, and it's looking like we'll be there to help celebrate. Stay tuned for details!
Sep 19, 2009 (Sat)	Beaverton Celebration Parade (Beaverton, OR)	News alert: Deathstar Stormtroopers capture Representative David Wu! Or at least they did when we visited Beaverton in 2004. Parade steps off at 10 AM through downtown Beaverton.
Sep 26, 2009 (Sat)	CANCELLED Puyallup Fair (Puyallup, WA)	They've got one heck of a big Fair in Puyallup and this year we're going to join them! This will be our second visit, and we expect to have at least as much fun as last year! We'll be doing our Mrs. Robinson act ("stroll around the grounds until you feel at home"), so there's no telling where you might catch us! Hint: The large, hulking beasts are cows if they moo, sousaphones if they don't. GAL PERFORMANCE CANCELLED (unfortunately) - hope we can do it next year!
Oct 3, 2009 (Sat)	Oysterfest 2000 (Shelton, WA)	It's the first weekend in October, and that means the shells will be flying at the Mason County Fair Grounds for Oysterfest. The Pacific Rim Oyster Open Speed & Half-Shell Oyster Shucking Contests are the centerpiece of the festival. Free entertainment is on-going and includes the Get a Life Band appearing for the second time. Wine tasting provided by several Washington State Wineries, Microbreweries, food vendors that are not allowed to duplicate each other's delicacies -- right up our alley! There's certainly lots to choose from! (True story: in 2008 a band member commented, "I had the bacon-wrapped oyster, and it was terrific except I discovered an oyster in the middle of it")
Oct 11, 2009 (Sun)	Oregon Hill Farms Pumpkin Festival (St Helens, OR)	We've had a great time celebrating the onset of fall and getting ready for Halloween with the folks at Oregon Hill Farms, so we're gonna do it again! Hay rides, pumpkins, food, great produce, and more -- come rock out (and pig out!) with the band! The band's playing on Sunday of the opening weekend - showtime is 1:30 PM. Oregon Hill Farms is at 32861 Pittsburg Rd, Saint Helens, OR; see their website and flyer for the Festival right here.
Nov 27, 2009 (Fri)	Macy's Holiday Parade (Portland, OR)	It's been an amazing 15th anniversary year for the band. We've played major parades in Washington, DC; San Francisco; and Seattle. But though we've done many parades around the Portland area, we haven't hit downtown in a big way yet. Well, that's about to end! Join us on the day after Thanksgiving for Macy's annual downtown extravaganza - the perfect way to kick off your holiday season. We'll be proudly sharing the same look we wore in the Inaugural Parade with our hometown crowd. And don't forget Santa!!!
Dec 5, 2009 (Sat)	Congress Center SW Sixth Ave & SW Main St (Portland, OR)	GAL will be downtown spreading music and holiday cheer with shoppers from Noon to 1 PM. Just get close - I'm sure you'll be able to hear where we are!
???	???	Keep an eye peeled - there's no telling when something new will hit the calendar!!!.

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