Orange City, Iowa — It’s a week before Tulip Festival in Orange City. Steve Connell is busy getting the MOC-FV Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band ready for several marching performances at the festival. But what’s different this year is that this is the final time Mr. Connell will be doing that.
Connell is retiring after serving 42 years as Director of the Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band. And he says many people are coming back to march in the alumni band this year. In fact, he says it might be “the largest marching band in the United States” marching down Central Avenue in Orange City on the evening of Saturday, May 20th. He says they’re hoping for three to four hundred band alumni.
According to Connell, The Pride of the Dutchmen Alumni Marching Band defines the word “tradition”.
Connell says that while he’ll be retiring from the high school band arena, not only will he stay in Orange City, but he will still be involved with band students, but in a little different way.
The Orange City Tulip Festival takes place May 18, 19 and 20 in Orange City, Iowa. Parades are held at 2:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each day of the festival.
