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Neighbors | Submitted .Mikey Kanos and Dylan Shook collected money for Tag Day from local community members Sept. 22.
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Neighbors | Submitted .Desi Girardi, Max Rassega, Maddie Murray and Dani Girardi, members of the Boardman band, went door to door to collect money to support the band on Tag Day Sept. 22.
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Neighbors | Submitted .James Valentin, Bryce Winebold, Mikey Kanos and Dylan Shook, members of the Boardman band, collected money for the band on Tag Day Sept. 22.
By JESSICA HARKER
The Boardman High School marching band and orchestra participated in their annual Tag day event on Sept. 22.
Tag day is an event where students in the music program go door to door collecting donations to support the program from community members.
“Tag Day started at least 40 years ago as a fundraiser for the Boardman band,” said Boardman band director Tom Ruggieri. “Students wearing their band uniforms go door-to-door throughout Boardman asking for donations to the program and handing residents a small card or Tag that says ‘thanks for your support.’”
Ruggieri said that students were assigned a neighborhood, where they went in groups of four to collect donations.
He continued that all groups were accompanied by a member of the Boardman Band and Orchestra Parents booster group, which drove down the road along side the students collecting donations. However, not every house in Boardman was able to be visited by band and orchestra members.
“For obvious reasons, we stay off of busy highways where a group cannot be monitored by the adult driver,” Ruggieri said.
Archie Vangal and Cheryl Taraszewski, members of the Boardman Band and Orchestra Parents booster group chaired the event.
Ruggieri said that the funds collected from the community help run the music programs at the school, and are greatly needed this year because the band had to cancel their annual band night due to inclement weather.
He said that donations over the past several years have been about $10,000.
“We are hoping that lots of residents will be more generous this year,” Ruggieri said.
For more information about the Boardman band, visit www.boardmanband.org.