Ohio high school band instruments stolen while at Disney World

ASHLAND, Ohio (WJW) — An Ohio high school band got back into town Friday after a long week at Walt Disney World in Florida.

To get there, the 100 member band worked their tails off. So many fundraisers from car washes to coupon books. And don’t forget what probably seemed like a gazillion of hours of marching and practicing their music.

But all that hard work to get to the Magic Kingdom was almost wiped away after the first night.

“Well, if you picture all of our uniforms were shoved into there, they couldn’t really reach all the big stuff” band director Marty Kral said as he pointed at they partially empty band trailer.

The “they” in that sentence are the thief or thieves that ransacked the band’s parked and locked instrument trailer outside of their hotel near Disney.

Flutes, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets — about 20% of their instruments all gone.

“To have lost that, personally I feel that devastation for them we can replace that instrument but we can’t replace that emotion that story attached to it and that’s what breaks our heart the most.” said Brad Selan, who’s son is a drummer in the band.

The Ashland high band worked hard to get to Disney and Kral says there was no way they were going to perform without everyone.

“Our only consideration was not worrying about the vandalism or finding out who did it, the only concern was how was I going to get instruments in the hands of kids so they could have their moment the following morning,” Kral said.

Kral said their performance on Main Street USA was less than a day away. He said everyone on site and back in Ashland started working the phones. They found a music store that had happened to have an affiliate back home in Ashland that was open on a Sunday.

“We started there and within the next four hours through their stores in Orlando we had acquired everything we thought we needed for the kids to have a successful performance.” Kral said.

The next morning with unfamiliar rented instruments and no practice the day before, the Ashland High School Marching Band rose to the challenged and did its thing and didn’t miss a step or a note.

Kral said they can’t thank their community enough for all their support. He said his kids are one of a kind and he’s so proud that they were able to rise to the occasion.

Meantime, the school district says it’s hoping that insurance will cover the cost of the bands instruments.

They’ve also started a GoFundMe page to help the students who lost instruments.