ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — The Second Time Around Marching Band is fine tuning their skills ahead of the July 4th holiday, hoping to deliver a showstopping performance in Philadelphia worthy of a 250-year celebration.

“It’s definitely on the national scale so we weren’t sure how the band was going to react, but when there’s thunderous applause and cheers, we knew we had made the right decision to accept this parade,” said Executive Director Stephen Cantin.

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Cantin says the band was requested by the City of Philadelphia to take it on the road, where more than 150 members will perform for the city’s Salute to Independence parade.

“I think our reputation precedes ourselves,” said Cantin. “We’re one of the largest adult marching bands in the country – and that’s unique.”

“It’s a big day,” said tenor sax player and president of the band Brett Husselbaugh. “It’s the 250th anniversary of our country and it’s in somewhat of the birthplace of our country so yeah we’re excited.”

The Second Time Around Band includes musicians of all ages. Cantin says the only parameter for joining is to have a passion for making music and a desire to revisit the old band camp days.

“One of our slogans is, ‘Why should the kids have all the fun?’,” said Cantin.

The ensemble is roughly 250 members strong, with ages ranging from 22 years old to 81 years old.

“We’re all people who love playing music and, as the name suggests, it’s the ‘second time around’, so we’re adults and we used to do this when we were younger in school,” said Husselbaugh. “We just enjoy our camaraderie and being with each other.”

Director Cantin tells me their band has traveled far and wide, with spots in both the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade as well as St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin Ireland, but he says this performance marks the start of another tour after losing their beloved director and founder, Bill Findeison, who passed away earlier this year.

“I think our performance in Philadelphia will be one of those where he’ll be smiling down on us,” said Cantin.

The band has a few more rehearsals in the coming weeks before they’ll head up to Philadelphia.

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