When the idea of playing in a postseason game was just a gleam in the eye of Pitt Panthers' Coach Walt Harris, more than 300 members of Butler Area High School's Golden Tornado Band already knew they were headed to Arizona.

"We found out last December we were going to the Fiesta Bowl," band director Andrew Yaracs said.

The band will take part in the Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade on Dec. 31 in Phoenix. More than 400,000 people are expected to line the city's Central Avenue to watch about 10,000 marchers, floats and equestrian units.

The next day, the University of Pittsburgh will play Utah in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Tempe.

Butler Area's band, one of the largest high school musical groups in the country, was created in 1993 by merging the district's intermediate and senior high school marching organizations. "We were buying new uniforms, and we decided it was crazy to have two separate bands," Yaracs said. The combined band numbers between 330 and 340 musicians, dancers and flag team members.

Yaracs, a 1969 Butler Area graduate, is in his 32nd year of teaching in the district. He has been band director for the past seven years.

The busiest season for the band is fall when members play for home and away football games and march in several parades.

Supported by a band boosters organization and Butler Area School District officials, the musicians also get to make one major trip each year. Those trips alternate between the more elaborate and expensive, like this year's journey to Arizona, and last year's bus ride to Philadelphia for the Boscov's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The band also marched in the 2000 Tournament of Roses parade and in the 1997 and 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving parades.

"So far we've had the good luck of always being accepted to participate," Yaracs said. "We are invited to a lot of events and that means we have to raise a lot of money."

The band is chartering three planes for the Dec. 28 flight to Arizona. Plans call for 331 musicians and band front members and 65 staff and chaperones to travel to Phoenix. They will return early Jan. 2.

Each student is expected to provide $1,109 toward the costs of the trip, much of it earned through 26 fund-raising activities.

Band boosters, the school board, Superintendent Edward Fink and regional businesses all have supported the Golden Tornado Band, he said. And the benefits run both ways. "When the students are doing something great, the school district and the community get good public relations."

About 150 students audition for the marching band each year for about 90 slots. Band is an extracurricular activity, and students and their parents are advised of the time and financial commitments band members are expected to make.

The band also seeks aid from corporate donors. H.J. Heinz Co., for example, was a major sponsor for the band's Rose Bowl trip.

That corporate assistance can be used to help band members who have not been able to raise all the money they need. "We'll work with students and their families," he said. "We don't want to leave anybody behind."

Participation in events such as Toronto's Santa Claus Parade and the Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Parade provide several benefits, Yaracs said. "Every high school has a marching band that plays at football games," he said. "You don't get to march in the Tournament of Roses unless you are a quality band."

"These trips are kind of like our playoffs or Super Bowl," he said. "We work all year long, then go out there and compete with the nation's best bands."

When they are not rehearsing or marching, band members will get a chance to do some sightseeing, including a day trip to the Grand Canyon.

Band members also learn important lessons about team work and persistence. "You have to give up a lot of yourself, learn to be part of a group and work toward the group's objectives," he said. "Fund-raising demonstrates that if you work hard, you can accomplish an awful lot."

"There is lot of satisfaction in knowing that you have earned the trip," he said.