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ECU Marching Pirates

Southeast North Carolina
Veterans Parade

A parade to honor all veterans, active duty military members and reservists will step off at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in downtown Wilmington, NC.

ECU Marching Pirates to headline

2024 Veterans Parade

The East Carolina University Marching Pirates will return to the Southeast North Carolina Veterans Parade on Nov. 9 as the 2024 headliner band.

The 220-member Marching Pirates band also was the headliner for the 2022 SENC Veterans Parade and is back by popular demand in the band’s 86th year.

Joe Busuito, associate director of bands at ECU, said the Marching Pirates will perform a mixture “student schtick” with drums cadencing and students dancing. In between those routines, the band will perform a medley of military service songs.

ECU alumni who attended the 2022 parade were treated to an impromptu performance by the band in front of the bleachers where they were seated. Busuito said he plans to have the band repeat that popular special performance for alumni this year.

“We’ll probably play for about 15 minutes or so,” he said.

For the parade, the Marching Pirates will wear the traditional uniform also worn at game-day or off-campus events, Busuito said.

While members of the band come from five different states, most are from eastern and central North Carolina, with some from the western counties, he said.

Busuito described the band’s appearance and performance in the parade as special and important.

“I love the relationship we’ve been able to establish,” he said. “This is a big event for us.”

As the dominant spirit organization on campus, the band entertains more than 300,000 fans each year at ECU games and regional high school marching band festivals, according to its website. The band’s unique style combines exciting arrangements from diverse musical genres with traditional and contemporary drill design.

About Joe Busuito, associate director of bands

Busuito directs the ECU Marching Pirates and the basketball pep band and conducts the Symphonic Band.

Busuito was the assistant director of concert and athletic bands at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, from 2017 to 2020. He was the director of the Rutgers Symphony Band, and he instructed the Marching Scarlet Knights and pep bands. He was a member of the music education faculty and served as the instructor for the brass instrumental techniques course and the first-year conducting class.

Busuito holds the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting, Wind Band from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Master of Music in Wind Conducting from Western Michigan University and Bachelor of Music Education from Western Michigan University. His research has been published in the WASBE Journal and he has presented at the CBDNA National Conference.

From 2009 to 2013, he was assistant director of bands at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan where he instructed three concert bands, jazz band, marching band, guitar, and general music classes.

Busuito has been involved in the drum corps activity since 2006. After moving to New Jersey in 2017, he was a member of the brass staff of the Cadets. From 2012 through 2015, Busuito served as a brass staff member for the Santa Clara Vanguard, primarily instructing the baritones. He joined the brass staff of the Bluecoats in 2011 where he taught the baritones and euphoniums. He was a member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps in 2006 and 2007.

About the parade

The Southeast North Carolina Veterans Parade committee is proud to announce this year’s entertainment lineup for the parade and pre-show to be held beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, on Third Street in historic downtown Wilmington, NC.

Pre-show to begin at 10 a.m.:

1.  Beaches and Boots Dancers

2.  Veterans Parade Brass Quintet

3.  UNCW Seabelles Choir

Parade to begin at 11 a.m.:

1.  Jamestown Pipes and Drums

2.  Cross Creek Pipes and Drums

3.  NC State Pipes and Drums

4.  Wilmington Police Pipes

5.  Tryon Palace Fifes and Drums

6.  North Brunswick High School Band

7.  Lejeune High School Band

8.  Ashley High School Band

9.  Hoggard High School Band

10. Army 4-40th Band

11. East Carolina University Marching Pirates

More than a thousand veterans will be marching or in attendance.

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