I’m a big fan of mini getaways as you might have gathered from my last column. Well, we were able to have another wonderful triplet down to Florida over Columbus Day weekend for a very special reason.

My great-niece Emily is a proud member of the University of Florida Marching Band, aka the UF Gator Marching Band, and we had been wanting to see her in action for some time.   Emily is the older daughter of my nephew Christian Finch. Chris was in the marching band in high school and went on to become an instrumental music teacher and band director. He currently serves as the principal of Barrington Middle School in Hillsborough County, Florida. 

At any rate, marching bands are in the DNA for the Finch family.  And we—the Northern relatives—realized that Emily was now a Senior at UF and we were running out of football games!

Daughter Liz, son-in-law Peter, and granddaughter Adeline and I made plans to fly down to Tampa for Columbus Day  weekend and travel up to Gainesville to see the Gators football team battle the Gamecocks of the University of South Carolina.  Well, actually we were going to see the Gator Band, obviously. The football was secondary to our mission.

We arrived Friday evening and practiced our Gator Chomp (right arm over left!). Saturday was an early day since the game was starting at 1 p.m. and we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us.  We couldn’t miss the tailgate party!  Chris, his wife Beth and his friends had put out quite a spread, and we feasted on an elegant brunch before the game began.  Emily’s sister Peyton—a student at Florida State University in Tallahassee-- even drove down for the game! Then we hiked up the hill (or at least what passes for a hill in Florida, wink) and went into the Steve Spurrier-Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which is more commonly known as The Swamp. The Swamp, by the way, is also where Gatorade was invented, and it is available for purchase throughout.

We got to see the band perform on the field before the game began.  However, as you might remember, Columbus Day weekend was also when Hurricane Isaias decided to make landfall, so the weather was a bit unsettled in Gator World.  The game was paused and the halftime show was cancelled because of lightning in the area, and several dark clouds passed over just long enough to hit us with a few big raindrops. We joined the crowd in singing “I Won’t Back Down” by Gainesville native Tom Petty at the end of the third quarter, a Gator tradition.

The Gator football team was having an off day, which actually worked out great for us.  As our custom-made T Shirts proclaimed, we were “Here for the Band,” and were charter members of the “Emily Paige Fan Club.” Many spectators left in the middle of the fourth quarter, and Chris knew just how to lead us to the now-empty section next to the band.  There was Emily, the leader of the clarinet section, sitting right on the aisle across from us!  We got to hear the band play “Go Gators”, “The Time Warp”, and UF’s Alma Mater.  We had ringside seats to the best event of the day.

Being at a big college football game is an unforgettable experience. Some years ago, my brother Fred let me tag along on a trip with his family to Penn State when my nephew (his son) Andrew was a student there.  Each school has its own cheers, traditions, and songs, and it’s fun to be a part of the huge crowd.  I am so thrilled that we got to see Emily and her whole Gator Band.  Come on Gators, get up and go!