We Love a Parade
McDonogh's annual Spirit Parade, held the day before the football game against time-honored archrival Gilman, isn't your typical parade. Sure, it has costumes, floats, bands, and more orange and black than imaginable, but it is also one in which spectators are participants and participants are spectators. The one-of-a-kind, double-self-enveloping spirit parade, designed by longtime faculty member Dave Harley, winds its way around campus and ends with an all-school pep rally.
For years, when Gilman hosted the game, the Eagles made their presence known when students, faculty, and alumni — a sea of festive orange and black — marched over the bridge from Bryn Mawr to Gilman led by drums, bagpipes, and, of course, Mr. Harley.
Drum Corps Marches On
With shiny orange and white drums resting squarely on their shoulders, members of McDonogh's Drum Corps have set the tone at important events for decades. Today's corps — comprised of third and fourth grade girls and boys — are proud participants in the annual schoolwide Spirit Parade, and they lead the fourth graders down Chapel Hill at the Lower School Closing Ceremony.
The Lower School Corps comes from a long line of drummers as far back as 1889. In October 1900, The Week reported, "Instead of having but three small drums, Mr. Williamson organized a fife and drum corps. Now there are six fifers, three buglers, three drummers, and one bass drum. The boys can march by this better than they could with only the drums, and it sounds much better." The story continues, "As the boys do not know how to play very well, we are not on the drill ground, but practicing in Mr. Williamson's classroom during drill time. I suppose we will be able to play by Founder's Day."
While the Fife and Drum Corps didn't survive, over the years, the music program grew. By the 1930s, it included a marching band that played for drill and at games and an orchestra that played at school dances. The orchestra also performed at the Christmas Bazaar and the Orange and Black Varieties with the Glee Club.
This content is adapted from content originally published in 150 Stories from McDonogh School's First 150 Years (2025).
