On August 28, 2007, I read the BhamWiki entry on the Vulcan Run. It was based on the Yearly Highlights page at the Vulcan Run web site. The 1988 entry claims the "Homewood High School Band performed at start of the race."
I have no recollection of this. Absolutely none. So I go home and pull out my 1988 calendar. November 19th is blank. Two weeks before the band was hosting the South Central Marching Classic. Two weeks later we were marching in Macy's Christmas Parade in Atlanta. It seems unlikely our director would schedule this inbetween those.
So I send e-mails to the Vulcan Run folks, my classmates, and even the class of '91. The Vulcan Run folks reply first (see e-mail), with pretty good proof: a scan from the post-race results book (photo available). So now I'm convinced I just forgot.
Then the e-mails start coming in from my classmates. No one else remembers it either. Hmmmm. Then I get an e-mail from the former principal's daughter, who happens to be in the photo as an Star-Spangled Girl (SSG). She contacted our old band director who said we weren't there. Curiouser and curiouser.
Then Meredith B. from the class of '91 sends an e-mail. She says the steps in the photo are at Harbert Plaza (north side of 19th Street). While this conflicts with the next e-mail from Audra L. (class of '89), who says her mother remembers it and it was at Linn Park, at least we're starting to get people who seem to remember the event. My father looked up the newspaper microfilms. Neither paper mentioned the band, but they were focusing on the run itself. He thinks the run was supposed to start at the Civic Center along 19th street, but says the map was hard to read.
After a break for other projects, I took the photo the Vulcan Run folks sent and tried to label all the band/color guard/SSG members I or others thought they recognized. No one identified anyone as being from a class outside the 1989–1992 range, so it would seem the photo is from when they said it was.
So now it's looking like, despite most of our memories, the evidence seems to say we were, in fact, there. I'm guessing we simply played a number from our half-time show or for our then upcoming appearance in Macy's Christmas Parade and this would be why most of us don't remember it. I should also point out that some other band events have been mentioned during the discussion of all this, and there are other events I distinctly do remember that others don't, so there's proof we all have faulty memories if we didn't know it already.
That's the state of things at the moment (Wed Sep 20 9:15 CDT 2007). If anyone reading this has more information, please feel free to contact me.