Athens, Ga. – Governor Sonny Perdue will greet the Redcoat Band at Woodruff Practice Field (off Lumpkin and Smith streets, adjacent to the Spec Towns Track) at about 3:30 p.m., Friday, May 12, during the band’s final rehearsal before departing for a China tour on Sunday. The governor’s visit, open thepublic and media,will come just prior to the send-off concert, which begins Friday evening at 7 p.m.
The send-off concert, sponsored by the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, the UGA Alumni Association and Chick-fil-A, is free. While the Redcoat Band conducts the final run-through of the show it will perform in China, attendees can gather with blankets and folding chairs on the hillside above the field. There will also be twirling and dancing from the Redcoat Auxiliary units: the Majorettes, Georgettes, Flagline and Feature Twirlers.
Members from the UGA chapter of the Georgia-China Alliance will attend the event, as well as Uga VI and the Chick-fil-A cow mascot. Chick-fil-A is one of the band’s major financial partners for the China trip, and will be selling food at the event.
During their two-week concert tour—which was planned at the invitation of the U.S.-China Cultural and Educational Foundation—the Redcoats will spend time in Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Nanjing, Xiamen and Shanghai, where they will perform longer-running shows than usual.
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