Albert Lea will again hear the sounds of youngsters marching through the streets playing a patriotic tune with a full band.

Albert Lea High School hasn’t had a full marching band since 2007, and each year since then a drumline still existed to perform at parades and other events. With busier students, Director of Bands Suzanne Mauer said there wouldn’t have been enough students to even have a drumline this summer. Instead she thought up the idea to have a mini-band camp, and the idea was a hit with students.

“I got a really good response,” Mauer said.

The marching band will have one performance during the Third of July Parade in Albert Lea. It will have practices from 8 to 11 a.m. the week leading up to the parade. Mauer’s hope is that the small taste of what a full marching band is like will get the kids interested and that hopefully they’d want to do more shows in future years.

Mauer said this opportunity will give more students an opportunity to learn about marching band. She said it’s unfortunate that the drumline won’t have more practices and performances as in past years, but that the new plan will let more students participate in a shorter time period. She said she would have liked to have a drumline like in past years but that there were too few students who could commit to the schedule.

“We have a lot of kids who are interested but are in sports or on vacations,” Mauer said. “Drumline is great, but having a full band out there is really different.”

Marching band will be offered through Community Education. Mauer said she hopes to use the marching band uniforms that have been in storage and expects she will get help from parents with sizing them for the kids. She was unsure whether there would be a color guard with the band, but expects more details will be worked out closer to the time of the practices in June.