The Vaquero Marching Band and UTRGV Color Guard participated in the McAllen Holiday Parade on Dec. 2, 2023 in McAllen, Texas. This weekend, they will perform in the Anheuser-Busch Washington’s Birthday Parade in Laredo. (UTRGV Photo by Paul Chouy)
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Community, Events and Exhibits
By News and Internal Communications
LAREDO, TEXAS – FEB. 14, 2024 – UTRGV presence in Laredo is expanding beyond the academic ties of the LC2UTRGV (Laredo College To UTRGV) partnership for higher education opportunities.
Soon, UTRGV’s inaugural marching band will help fill the streets of Laredo with music, when the UTRGV Vaquero Marching Band and the UTRGV Color Guard perform in this year’s Anheuser-Busch Washington’s Birthday Parade.
The traditional, highly popular event is organized by the Washington Birthday Celebration Association (WBCA), which brings together the community in honor of American Founding Father George Washington.
The Anheuser-Busch Washington’s Birthday Parade is scheduled to take place on San Bernardo Avenue starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17.
This will be the first 2024 celebratory parade for the UTRGV Marching Band and Color Guard. Last year, both groups performed at several community events, including the annual McAllen Holiday Parade in December.
The Vaquero Marching Band is the first of its kind at the university and the first in the Rio Grande Valley.
Assembled in summer 2023, the band already has more than 100 members.
To stay up to date with the Vaquero Marching Band and UTRGV Color Guard, visit www.utrgv.edu/marchingforward.
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.