MOBILE, Ala. — For Mobile County’s high school marching bands, Mardi Gras season means long parade routes, occasional mishaps involving horses, and a welcome chance to raise money for uniforms, instruments and travel. Now the Mobile County school board is weighing an updated fee schedule that would spell out exactly how much bands earn for showing up.
The proposed agreement, set for discussion at the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, lays out fixed payments that mystic societies would owe any high school band they hire to march. Under the plan, a band would earn $750 for parades held on Saturdays, Sundays, Lundi Gras or Mardi Gras itself — the more heavily attended rolls of the season. Parades on any other night would pay $550. Bands asked to serve as a warm-up act would collect an additional $100, while band directors and assistant directors would each receive a $50 stipend per parade.
The contract also addresses what happens when a parade gets rescheduled, a common occurrence given Mobile’s unpredictable weather during Carnival season. Under the proposed terms, a band that marches in a rescheduled parade would still be paid based on the fee tied to the original scheduled date, protecting bands from losing money over a weather-related shuffle.
Transportation costs are spelled out in detail as well. Mystic societies would pay $1.50 per mile for each bus used to move a band between its school, the staging area and back, plus $7.50 an hour for each bus driver and an additional 19.42 percent on top of that to cover driver benefits. Bands using a van or trailer to haul equipment would receive additional flat fees of $50 and $25, respectively.
The financial stakes go beyond standard parade pay. The Mystics of Time society has, for the past two Carnival seasons, run a marching band competition offering cash prizes of $500, $300 and $200 for the top three finishers, drawing bands from across the region. Mobile County’s own Baker High School claimed first place in 2014, edging out Moss Point High School of Mississippi and Loachapoka High School in Lee County. All three top finishers earned automatic invitations back to march in the Mystics of Time’s 2015 parade.
If approved, the updated fee schedule would apply to the 2015 Carnival season, giving band directors across the county a clearer picture of what to expect as they plan busy months of parades, practices and competitions.