2024 Silver Leaves summer parade schedule

Silver Leaves Brass ensemble is opening this year’s performance schedule with a May 20 Victoria Day holiday parade in Woodstock, the first of about 15 events winding up in mid-December with an evening Santa Claus parade in St. George.

The Woodstock parade was the traditional start of the Preston Scout House Band summer parade season through the 1950s. That tradition was maintained by Preston Scout House Alumni Band through 2016 and is now revived by Silver Leaves, a Preston Scout House Band Inc. member group.

Between May and December, Silver Leaves are featured at several of southern Ontario’s largest and most popular festivals, including the Dunnville Mudcat Festival, Burlington Sound of Music Festival, Dundas Cactus Festival, Galt Porch Festival, Waterford Pumpkin Festival, Kitchener/Waterloo Oktoberfest. The ensemble is scheduled to escort Santa Claus along parade routes in communities including Cambridge, Hespeler, Guelph, Milton, Kitchener/Waterloo, and St George.

Silver Leaves Brass, under the direction of World Drum Corps Hall of Fame member Gord Cupskey, has been part of the Preston Scout House family for more than 20 years. The group first performed Christmas carols in downtown Galt in 2003.

The ensemble is based in space provided by Royal Canadian Legion Branch 530, 316 Marsland Drive in Waterloo. Regular weekly rehearsals take place Sunday mornings.

Preston Scout House Band, Inc. is a non-profit corporation with registered charity status able to issue tax receipts to donors, incorporated under the Corporations Act of the Province of Ontario on November 29, 1956.

For more information about Preston Scout House Band Inc. activities, contact telephone (519) 653-3376, email PSHBAND [dot] INC [at] outlook [dot] com