Hempfield Band Riding Subs to California

From the Tribune-Review, April 18, 1985.

By Linda Antoniak of The Tribune-Review.

End-to-end, they would stretch along the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Monroeville to New Stanton. But the 69,500 submarine sandwiches made and sold by Hempfield Area High School's 140 band members are going to carry the young musicians a lot farther than that.

"California Here We Come" has become the theme song for the Spartan band, whose members have spent 10 Saturday mornings over the past seven months preparing and delivering tens of thousands of subs to raise enough money to travel to California and perform for the 30th anniversary of Disneyland.

It's been a back-breaking job, which so far has consumed about 15,000 pounds of chopped ham, 7,500 pounds of honey loaf, 11,000 pounds of salami, 10,000 pounds of white cheese, 10,000 pounds of yellow cheese, 1,000 pounds of tomatoes, 3,250 pounds of onions, and 8,000 pounds of lettuce.

By selling the sandwiches at $2.50 each, the band has made enough money to fund almost totally the California trip.

According to band director Rod Booker, himself an eight-year veteran submarine maker, the process of making thousands of hoagies in only a few hours is not really that tough - once the system is perfected.

"We actually begin on Friday," said Jean Harkins, ways and means chairman of the band parents. "We get people together to slice onions and tomatoes and shred lettuce. Once that's all taken care of we're ready to move."

Starting at 5:45 a.m. Saturday in the school cafeteria, Harkins said, 19 onion tables and 17 no-onion tables are arranged, and then all 140 members sign up for a table as they come in.

"It's an assembly-line process," said Harkins.

Within three hours, about 7,000 18-inch hoagies are assembled and ready to be delivered.

"All of the money made is going to be used for the spring trip," said Booker.

The Hempfield Band's excursion to California will revolve around its performance at Disneyland, which chose the unit from thousands that had applied nationwide.

"We had sent them a tape and information about our band," said Booker, "and they chose us to perform just from that. It is definitely a great honor to have been selected."

Booker said the band is expected to perform before a crowd of 65,000 to 70,000 people while marching down Main Street in Disneyland. Hempfield's stage band is also to appear.

"We're planning to play a "Tribute to the Count (Basie), 'Hello, 'Soul Man' and 'My Funny Valentine,"' said the band director.

During their stay in California, the band members are planning to tour the Los Angeles Coliseum, Universal Studios and the Spruce Goose Museum.

Photo caption: An Armful. Mellophonist section leader Kim Harkins, a senior of the band, gets ready to deliver the goodies. Miss Harkins, like other band members, hasn't enjoyed the luxury of sleeping-in on recent Saturday mornings. Instead, she's been at the high school at the crack of dawn, making submarines and then delivering them to hungry customers before lunch.