ORLANDO, Fla. — Every Ashland High School band member who made the trip to Disney World was able to march Monday down Main Street, U.S.A.
What was likely unknown to others lined along the famed entrance to Disney’s Magic Kingdom was every effort made over the previous 24 hours to ensure those Ashland students each experienced the once-in-a-lifetime moment.
The Ashland High School Music Department departed for its spring break trip to the Walt Disney World Resort on March 27. About 160 students, staff and volunteers arrived at their hotel on March 28 after a 22-hour bus trip.
The next morning, the music department embarked on a trip to Disney Springs — which included performances from the choir and orchestra at the outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex.
“Our truck driver that pulls our (band) trailer just noticed something looked off and did some checking and noticed we had locks missing on our trailer that were definitely there when we loaded up,” said Marty Kral, director of bands and Music Department chair for Ashland High School.
While furthering his investigation, the truck driver noticed things were tampered with and it was obvious something had happened, Kral said Monday evening.
The students were sent on their regularly scheduled trip to Disney Springs while Kral and his assistant remained at the hotel to assess the situation.
“We took a real solid inventory of everything and found we were genuinely missing about 20 percent of the instruments that should’ve been on the trailer,” Kral said.
With the band slated to perform Monday, Kral and his staff immediately got to work.
‘Lots of emotions’
Utilizing connections made with different music companies, the band director was able to identify two local music stores in Orlando to reach out to on a whim.
“My priority was ‘How do I get every kid to have their Disney experience tomorrow (Monday)?'” Kral said.
After purchasing new padlocks for the band trailer, Kral and his assistant traveled to the nearest of the two local music stores and explained the situation to its staff. The next several hours included the director making individual, month-long rentals one at a time for each instrument that was stolen.
Kral said he has been working with local law enforcement and the incident remains under investigation.
The rentals will return with students to Ashland, Kral said. He plans to return them through Mike’s Music Corner in Ashland, which is affiliated with the same larger company as the local store in Orlando.
“The day we come back to school, I’m still going to have all these kids that need that instrument,” Kral said. “I’m just going to keep them for the month and hopefully by the end of that month we’ll have solutions.”
After meeting with the students at Disney Springs, Kral was able to dodge questions as to where he was and why — waiting until Sunday evening’s band meeting back at the hotel to break the news.
“Lots of emotions,” the director said of the reaction Sunday night. “Some kids took things very hard, whether that be sorrow, anger or disbelief.”
Students then had the chance to locate their instruments following the meeting in order to determine who had their instrument stolen.
Kral said it does appear to be a random “smash-and-grab” style theft, noting most of the instruments stolen were those small and easy to carry. Nearly all of the instruments stolen were personally owned by students, as opposed to school-owned, he said.
“Kids really took it personal,” the director said.
Between the two Orlando music stores, the stolen instruments were temporarily replenished — at least that’s what Kral thought.
It’s a small world
Late Sunday night it was discovered things were still off by one instrument — a saxophone.
Kral and other staff worked through the night trying relentlessly to find a replacement for the lone student still in need of an instrument.
They scoured the internet to see what other bands from around the country were scheduled to play at Disney, reaching out to Facebook pages and staff emails associated with those schools.
After several unsuccessful attempts, a reply was received from the Anna High School Marching Band. Anna is a small, rural village in Shelby County, Ohio.
Kral said Anna High School was scheduled to leave, but one of the marching band members was extending their stay at the resort with their family.
That student happened to play saxophone.
“We got to (the family’s) hotel about midnight (Monday morning) and she (the student’s mother) was just waiting in the lobby and gave us her kid’s saxophone,” Kral said. “I thought that was just amazing because that made it so every kid could play today.
“Emotions were high because of the situation, but every kid got to play and marching down Main Street was just really cool because you see the castle in the background.
“Twenty percent of the instruments in those kids’ hands, that was the first time they ever played them and they just did it. They just went for it,” he said. “They got their moment.”
The Ashland High School Music Department will return late Thursday — with plenty of stories to tell.
For Kral, his purpose upon returning to Ashland will be to make sure those students with stolen instruments are equipped with quality replacements.
“I want them to have a nice instrument to call their own,” the director said. “I know that’s not going to take away that (their previous instrument) was bought by someone special or passed down from family — it’s never going to fix that.
“But my goal is just to make it right, so that is going to be our purpose when we get home,” Kral said. “That’s the goal. Period.”