Portsmouth High School’s band is performing in the Portsmouth New Hampshire’s 400 Grand Parade downtown Portsmouth on Saturday, June 3 starting at 11 am. The parade will include floats, scout troops, antique cars, street performers, and bands. Anyone is welcome to march and watch this parade. 

The parade will feature 40 PHS band members and over 200 band alumni members, some of whom graduated in the 1958 class. The PHS band alumni have not had a reunion since 2016 which was dedicated to the retired band director. Ever since then, the PHS band alumni wanted to get back together again and Portsmouth’s 400th parade is the perfect chance. 

“I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring the alumni back together,” says Eric Gagnon, the current director of the PHS band.

For the past month, the PHS band and alumni members have been practicing very hard for this parade. “It is great to see former students who are now adults back in the band room playing their instruments. The smile on their face and the joy it brings them. It’s like they were just here,” says Gagnon. 

Ben Seibert, a junior at PHS and a member of the PHS band, believes that this parade is a way to “celebrate the band and how it has grown.” The PHS band and alumni members hope to represent the decades and history of the band program. 

According to the Portsmouth NH 400 website, “A key intention is for the PNH400th team to engage the next generation(s) in exploring what the City’s 2023 legacy might be and how they might steward Portsmouth and its history beyond 2023.” 

For more information regarding the Portsmouth NH Grand Parade please visit https://www.portsmouthnh400.org/upcoming-programs/portsmouth-nh-400-grand-parade.