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Bogota Buccaneers Band Raising Gas Money To Get To Dorney Park

BOGOTA, NJ -- The Bogota Junior and Senior High School Buccaneers need money for gas -- and are hoping a town-wide garage sale this weekend will help raise it.

Marching band members are raising funds in a town-wide event.

Marching band members are raising funds in a town-wide event.

Photo Credit: Melody2 via morguefile

Dozens of residents have posted $10 to be included on a map of houses open for the Saturday sales.

The community not only turns a profit in the decades-old event but also helps the Band Parent Organization, who seek funds to cover expenses not covered by the school board.

"Fuel is expensive, and the buses aren't covered," said Barry McCann, the band director and fine and performing arts department coordinator who has worked at the school for 16 years.

The group supports the football team and leads the school through pep rallies and homecoming games in the fall.

They perform in winter and spring concerts and lead the borough in the Memorial Day Parade each year. They compete out of town in Montclair and Bloomfield, but their main focus is preparing for competition at Dorney Park.

The group currently has about 65 members who entertain with a Latin show during halftime games performing "Cell Block Tango," and "El Bandido" as part of their program.

McCann has seen as many as 80 members in the unit, but noted that 45 students graduated over the past two years. Many of them went through a three-year hiatus when the school temporarily halted the music program.

"The majority of the band is on an elementary to junior high level, so we tend to have to move a little faster to learn material and prepare for competiiton," said McCann.

McCann estimates that over a quarter of the 500 students in the school are involved with the band, choir and theater department or both.

"There are a lot of beginners in the group," "My mission is to get every single kid in the band," McCann joked.

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