Committee approves new uniform design for EPHS Marching Band

“Pride of East Providence” should be sporting new duds sometime in 2020

By Mike Rego
Posted 5/15/19

EAST PROVIDENCE — The “Pride of East Providence,” East Providence High School Townies Marching Band will soon be getting new uniforms for the first time in likely a quarter century after the …

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Committee approves new uniform design for EPHS Marching Band

“Pride of East Providence” should be sporting new duds sometime in 2020

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The “Pride of East Providence,” East Providence High School Townies Marching Band will soon be getting new uniforms for the first time in likely a quarter century after the School Committee approved an updated design of the outfit at its Tuesday, May 14, meeting.

EPHS Music Department instructor and band director Marisa Silva unveiled a mock up of the proposed design last week modeled by junior band member Alexandra Wolski. Freshman band member Alyssa Jannerelli wore the current garb, which dates back to the mid-1990s.

The new uniform is predominantly red, the school’s main color. The jacket features a white and gold sash embroidered with the “Townies” nickname vertically down the right breast with the interlocking “EP” insignia on left breast. The word “Townies” is also arched horizontally in small block letters on the upper left sleeve. The pants are all red and black shoes will be worn. The new red hat features a feather on top and is trimmed in black with a black visor. As was the case with the prior incarnation, white gloves will be worn.

“When I brought out and unveiled them, I did get a lot of approval from students,” Mrs. Silva said of the updated design.

The old uniforms had a white jacket with a red sash, red pants with a vertical white stripe and were accented by white shoes. The hats were red with a white visor and black accent.

Of the current ensemble, Mrs. Silva noted the chains are falling off of many hats and the tops are “broken and crumbly.” Because of their age, stains on the jackets and pants are becoming more and more difficult to remove.

“We’ve done what we can,” Mrs. Silva said of maintaining the current outfits. “We keep them at the school. We dry clean them once a year. We do what we can to take care of them…But we’re at a point with the uniforms that we need new ones.”

The design process for the new uniforms started in January of this year and concluded in April.

“It was exciting and frustrating at times,” Mrs. Silva explained. “I had to choose from 1,500 designs. We narrowed it down and made them our own for us. It’s a design only the Townies will have.”

While no one associated with the program knows the exact date when the current uniforms were purchased, Mrs. Silva said after consultation with EPHS Music Department colleague Maryann Lasorsa and alumni, all were left “thinking it’s closer to 25 years old. We’re thinking it’s between 20 and 25 years, but closer to 25…It’s definitely time to get new uniforms.”

In total, 110 new outfits will be ordered. Mrs. Silva said because of the time it takes to manufacture, she called it “quite a process,” it is unlikely the new uniforms will be available for use during the upcoming 2019 fall sports and performance season. They could be ready when the band performs at the annual American Legion Post 10 Memorial Day Parade in May of 2020, which they will do this year as well in a few days’ time.

The new uniforms will be made by Fruhauf Uniforms Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, the same company that supplied the current attire some 25 years earlier.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.