WASHINGTON — A brush with history, the thrill of a lifetime, an honor beyond words.
Pick the cliche, but the American Fork Marching Band lived it Thursday, marching down the heart of Pennsylvania Avenue to the cheers of tens of thousands who descended on the nation's capital to celebrate the second inauguration of President Bush.
"It is probably the coolest thing I have ever done," said Becky Evans, a member of the color guard. "And when we got to the president, it was a moment where you get chills all over your body. You see the president and it's so cool."
So cool and nerve-racking that Evans almost started doing the wrong moves. So did Jeff Barney, a tuba player on the outside corner close to Bush, who was distracted just long enough to be five counts late in switching the tuba to the other shoulder.
"It was awesome," he said. "You are only feet away from president. It was definitely the experience of a lifetime. You hear all the criticism he gets, but when you see him he exudes an aura of confidence."
The American Fork Marching Band was one of 21 high school bands invited to participate in the inaugural parade, along with dozens of college and university bands, military bands and honor guards.
It was the only Utah representative in the parade.
The parade was an exercise in precision, with each of the dozens upon dozens of participants required to adhere to strict time schedules. The entire parade took less than an hour.
An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people watched the parade, including as many as 10,000 protesters who were assigned to one particular section along the parade route.
The cold weather may have kept many people away from the parade, as entire bleacher sections were empty or close to it.
"When we walked up the parade route, I thought of all we have done and the work and how we prepared, and it was almost anticlimactic," band director John Miller said, "until we reached that moment in front of the president. Then it was all worth it."
"I'm still numb," he added.
Miller, who followed along with the band, snapped some photos of the band as it marched in front of the president, who was waving and pointing at them as they went by.
"It was breathtaking when I looked in the big booth and saw him and Dick Cheney and their families," Miller said. "It was an emotional experience to realize we are actually playing in front of the most powerful man on earth."
He was also the most protected man on Earth. Band members were stunned by the level of security along the route, described by Miller as arm-in-arm and two deep.
Everyone, including a contingent of band family members from American Fork, had to pass through metal detectors to gain access to the bleachers, which were cordoned off by a small army of law enforcement officers from around the nation who came to the capital to volunteer.
The parade passed without major incident, although security responded to protesters who tried to get into the event carrying golf balls and rocks, presumably to throw at the presidential motorcade.
They had left the parade route by the time the award-winning American Fork band played "Inaugural Parade Medley," music it learned over the past three weeks.
The band even worked on a patented move to turn and salute the president without actually stopping, which wasn't allowed on the parade route.
Nick Davis, who plays the sousaphone, was freezing cold by the end, but the moment was not lost that he was participating in something "really huge."
"The whole time I was saying, 'I want to see the president, I want to see the president,' " he said. "And I look up and I really am looking at the president. I had never been out of my own city except a trip to California. Oh yeah, it was worth it."
Evans won't forget the experience anytime soon. She has family who recorded the experience from television news broadcasts and she plans to replay them and replay them.
"I will watch it every night before I go to bed. I am serious," she said.
E-mail: spang@desnews.com