Georgia inaugural performances canceled due to frigid weather conditions

A South Georgia high school band and a professional mounted drill team from Covington both saw their inauguration performances scratched due to expected cold weather in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

Elizabeth Dabney of the Diamond D Cowgirls said the news was “very disheartening,” but she said it was an honor to have been invited. Dabney said she was en route to the Washington with her horses when she got the news.

“We’re processing. Fortunately, our entire team was not on the road,” she said.

The Diamond D Cowgirls, a professional horseback drill team from Georgia, were to perform in the inaugural parade in Washington D.C. Monday until expected bad weather canceled their plans.

The cowgirls were to perform on horseback at Monday’s parade for Donald Trump, waving American flags in their red, white and blue costumes. But a forecast of extremely low temperatures on Monday forced the festivities indoors.

Dabney said all of the team members and their horses made it back to Georgia safely and they are looking toward other performance opportunities Supporters have suggested they see if they can return to Washington for Independence Day, she said.

The Georgia Bridgemen from Lowndes High School were also supposed to march in the parade, but that performance also was canceled. The band said in a post on social media they are “heartbroken” about the turn of events.

Unlike the Diamond D Cowgirls, the band was already in Washington when they learned they would not be performing. Director of Bands Jon Bowman said in a text message Saturday he was scrambling to rebook flights back home.

The Georgia Bridgemen were one of only four high school bands scheduled to participate in the presidential inaugural parade.

The band first performed in an inaugural parade in 2005, for President George W. Bush’s second inauguration. It was such a powerful experience for the students to be there and witness the pageantry and history being made that the band has applied to every inauguration since, Director of Bands Jon Bowman said in a prior interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I don’t care who the president is. Very few high school bands are going to have the opportunity to do something like this,” he said. “This is an opportunity for you to be a part of something that started back in the 1800s. That’s the way we’re viewing it.”

The band was scheduled to perform “National Emblem March.”