Pride of Prescott luau scheduled for Friday the 13th in downtown Prescott

Got plans for this Friday the 13th?

If not, the Prescott High School Pride of Prescott Band Boosters has organized a night you won’t want to miss – and you’re doing a good deed at the same time.

At the Holiday Courtyard and Ballroom at 154 S. Montezuma Street from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., the Boosters have arranged for a Hawaiian luau to support the band’s coming field trip to be Arizona’s ambassadors at the Pearl Harbor commemorative parade and ceremonies in Oahu on Dec. 7. All the proceeds for the $40 a ticket event are to help defray some of the $2,500 cost to the 55 students who plan to attend.

The Pride of Prescott Marching Band and Color Guard will kick-off the evening with patriotic songs and pageantry prior to the luau-style dinner and other live musical entertainment to follow. Local bands Cross-Eyed Possum — Pride of Prescott alumni are the performers – and Cause & Effect will play music sure to get feet tapping and hips swaying all to benefit student’s chance to partake in honoring one of America’s most significant historical moments. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared the Japanese attack on the Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, as “a date which will live in infamy.”

This will be the second time since 2012 the Pride of Prescott has been invited to participate in those ceremonies.

These student musicians will march in the main parade down Waikiki Boulevard and perform dockside at the USS Missouri. The entire group will also take a boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial where they will lay a wreath in honor of the Arizona sailors and Marines who died in that attack. The trip will begin on Dec. 2 with the students returning to Prescott on Dec. 8.

The USS Arizona – the final resting place for 1,102 sailors and Marines – is visible underneath the memorial. Oil from the battleship still bubbles up to the surface, visible to visitors from all around the world. The memorial has recently undergone renovation but will be open for the ceremonies.

Beyond the luau dinner and music, the Boosters have also arranged a silent auction, and anyone who might have items to donate are welcome to do so.

To date, the Boosters have raised about $12,000 to assist with trip expenses through a variety of fundraising events. This is slated to be the final such event, and members hope the public comes to support the students in what former band members and supporters suggest will prove a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Tickets are available at www.prescottbandboosters.com. For any other questions, or to make a donation, contact trip coordinator Traci Rainey at 928-848-1465.