ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — The University of Illinois' marching band surprised many Monday morning with its performance in Rock Island's 40th Labor Day Parade.
Wanting to do something special for the anniversary, Rock Island's band director, Pete Carlin, made a few calls.
"They haven't been here since 2003. It's been 21 years," Carlin said.
Carlin says his high school band used to work with the group from Western Illinois University, until the university stopped participating in Rock Island's Labor Day parade.
"I had talked to Barry [Houser] about coming up and doing something at some point," explained Carlin. "So I went ahead and reached out to [him] and said 'Hey, what do think about doing this?' He said 'Let me check the schedule,' and everything worked out," Carlin said.
Carlin and Houser planned to keep the Labor Day surprise up their sleeves for months, wanting the big day to be as special as it can be.
"We confirmed it right around the middle of May, and kind of kept it a secret on purpose just for the celebration," Carlin said.
Rock Island's high school band performed in the parade earlier in the day and had the opportunity to play with and learn from the Illini.
Carlin said, "There's a lot of camaraderie amongst the musical world. We tell the kids, 'Go talk to [the college students]. Go find out about college marching band, and see if that's something you want to do.'"
The high school band director says he didn't schedule the event to pressure his kids into continuing their band career. He simply wants this to be a Labor Day they remember.