After putting his tuba away, junior Korbin Gibson joins the rest of the band behind the athletic facility. The band awaits the special surprise that was announced at the end of rehearsal. The parking lot – dressed in reporters and band boosters – echoes with the cheers of band students. Once head band director Jay Sutton wraps up his speech, Korbin’s eyes widen as the brand new band semi truck turns the corner. Without sparing a moment band students and directors alike rush to be the first inside.
“I was really excited about it,” Korbin said. “Our old band truck was pretty much rotting away.”
The new band semi truck has two levels of storage, with the accommodations of shelving, storage hooks, led lights, and two doors for loading and unloading. Instead of taking two U-Hauls and a truck, the band can now fit all of their necessities into one vehicle.
“Once we get used to it, I think it’s going to cut our loading time at least in half, if not more,” Mr. Sutton said. “I mean, we were able to totally unload it this morning before rehearsal, and everybody was at rehearsal on time.”
The semi truck was a complete surprise to students — and a happy one for upper classmen who spent years operating the old truck’s high platform. Because of the height of the old truck, everything had to be set on the platform before it could be lowered. After lowering the platform on the old truck, even the freshman – who had only loaded and unloaded twice – were tired of it. With the new truck, the simple ramp allows for easy access in and out of the truck.
“It’s so much easier, and you have more space to put everything on there.” freshman Carter Adcock said. “Instead of having to lower and raise the platform, you can just roll things on and off. It’s so much better.”
Loading convenience isn’t the only benefit of the truck. During competitions, the truck gives the band members a cool place to hang out and enjoy down time.
“It is surprisingly nice. It stays pretty cool in there, despite being just a giant metal box,” senior Jackson Teague said. “I also like that we have lights in there, so it’s not pitch black like the other band truck was.”
Mr. Sutton said this is just the start of the new truck. He plans on adding things inside the truck to make storage and loading even more efficient.
“We have some small things we want to add, just to help with placement of some small things like our carriers for our drums, and add some E track shelving to help with props and things like that,” Mr. Sutton said. “And each year, we may kind of customize certain things depending on what our props look like and what fits and what doesn’t.”
Customizing the truck wouldn’t have been possible without Steve Ledwell and his team. Steve Ledwell is a hawk impact partner, and when he heard of the band’s need of a new truck, he graciously donated one.
“He just called us one day and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a trailer for you’ so we went over and looked at it,” Mr. Sutton said. “It’s a huge trailer so they cleaned it up, made it road worthy, and cut a door in the side to make it accessible for what we needed.”
Once the truck layout was complete and was ready to roll, the outside was still just a regular trailer. It needed the Pleasant Grove touch.
“Then it went over to Lone Star Truck Group, and Jay Simmons, and his team with Jalen Crump – who designed the wrap – graciously donated the wrap. It was an incredible job,” Mr. Sutton said. “Then we sent it down to Stadium Creations in Houston, and that’s a company that specializes in band trailers, so our band boosters paid to outfit the interior and everything.”
With the ease of a new trailer and the pride of having an entire semi truck, the band has high hopes for this season. Eagerly putting the semi into use, the band received all ones at the UIL Regional Competition and will be advancing to the Area Competition on Oct. 25.
“It was incredible, when you walk into the parking lot and you can see it towering over every other trailer,” Mr. Sutton said. “It’s just awesome.”