Swamp Cabbage Festival Wants Entry Fee For Parade - High School Says No Thanks

LABELLE, FL. -- The Swamp Cabbage Festival is just around the corner, always the last full weekend of February, this year on the 20th through 22nd. But, the LaBelle High School Band has told the Festival Committee they will not be marching this year, objecting to having to pay for the kids to participate.

Band Director Alex Burden says the parade committee declined to waive a participation fee for the school this year, although they did last year. 

Read his statement below:

“Friends, Today, with a heavy heart, I have made the difficult decision not to have the Cowboy Band march in the Swamp Cabbage Parade this year. Last season, after decades of participating in the parade without a fee, the parade committee decided to implement a fee for parade participants. At that time I asked them to waive the fee for the school. They did waive the fee and I was grateful. This year the fee is not being waived for schools and I am refusing to pay the fee on principle.

Let me be completely transparent, the fee is $50 for a non-profit organization to participate. This is not about the money. To prepared for an event like the Swamp Cabbage Parade, the band already spends an extensive amount of time and money. We purchase music, uniforms and flags to fit the theme of the parade. We rehearse 3 days after school the week of the parade and give up an entire Saturday. Students must call out of work and lose pay for those commitments and staff is not paid for this extra time. My auxiliary staff must write a routine for the parade and I create choreography for the band. We are not paid for this. Furthermore this event adds extra strain on the band program because we must completely stop preparing for our upcoming assessments and transform the band room for Marching Band the week of Swamp Cabbage. This is a big deal. We use completely different wind and percussion instruments for Marching events and must put our concert equipment in storage. The Friday before the parade we load everything into a trailer and bring it down to the park. After the parade we must haul everything back to the band room and unpack. The Monday after the parade, we lose valuable instructional time putting the room back together.

We, the Band, enjoy community events like the Swamp Cabbage Parade and are happy to volunteer our time to be a part of it. So let me be clear: It is a privilege for the Swamp Cabbage Parade to have the Cowboy Band participate in it's event and we will not be charged an extra fee when we are already giving so much."

The Swamp Cabbage Festival replied: 

“Thank you for speaking up about our parade entry fees. Your voices matter and we do value and hear you.

We would also like to acknowledge it takes a lot of effort and it is a financial burden to bring this celebration to life.

The parade has always been a labor of love for our community, and we have done our best to keep it going because of your enthusiasm and participation. The fees we charge help us cover the essentials of such an endeavor.

We know costs can be a barrier for some groups, and we do not take that lightly.

We have kept our pricing lower than similar parades in the region, and we actively pursue sponsorships to reduce the burden on participants. As a result we have been able to offer discounted rates for everyone including schools, nonprofits, and youth groups.

We are not a big organization, we are your neighbors, working year-round to create something meaning for everyone.”

Officers of the non-profit Festival according the the Secretary of State are: Lowe-Hunter, Dawn M, Kirtley, Crystal V, and Daniels, Jason H