Now, parades will be a part of several Fourth of July celebrations, including here in Southern Nevada.

Both the Summerlin Council Patriotic Parade and the Boulder City Damboree Parade are embracing the America 250 theme.

And of course, a parade wouldn't be much of a parade without a marching band or two.

Maria Silva joins us again.

And, Maria, there is a local high school marching band that is going to be performing in one of the country's largest parades.

-Yeah.

I just love when we can actually shine the spotlight on our CCSD students.

And this is pretty special.

The Foothill High School Falcon Marching Band, one of 50 marching bands and, listen to this, the only one from Nevada invited to perform at the Fourth of July parade in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States.

But that's not their only performance.

In fact, they have performances in not one but two of our nation's founding states.

We caught up with the band before they headed off on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Inside the Foothill High School Theater... -One, two, everyone.

♪♪ -Director of Bands Travis Pardee and these talented students who make up the Foothill High School Falcon Marching Band are hard at work... [horns] ...practicing patriotic songs.

(Travis Pardee) Well, we're going to Philadelphia, so we have to play "The Liberty Bell" march by John Philip Sousa.

♪♪ There's a piece called "Anthem for Freedom," which is based on the "Chester" theme, which is a kind of a New England idea.

And there's a piece called "Salute to Freedom," which has some famous Americana in it.

♪♪ And then there's a piece called "Appalachian Journey."

♪♪ -What started out as an invitation from the City of Philadelphia to perform at the Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade quickly turned into the Wind Ensemble booking another important performance at the historic Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware.

-It's one of the older concert venues that's been continuously open in the U.S., I believe, and so it's pretty exciting.

It's a neat-looking venue.

It's old, built in the 1800s.

And these kids don't see that here ever, so it's fun to take the kids to perform in venues that are 150 years old.

Let me hear flutes and clarinets.

One, two, flutes and clarinets.

(Emeline Jones) I play the clarinet.

It has a lot of keys, a lot of buttons, but it's not as complicated as it looks.

-And junior Emeline Jones can't wait to take center stage at The Grand Opera House.

-I'm super excited to see it, because I did see a picture of the said Hall, and it was very beautiful, so I'm very excited to perform in it.

-During this practice session, you definitely felt that excitement.

♪♪ -For students like sophomore Mickey Johnston... (Mickey Johnston) This is the euphonium.

It's a low brass instrument with four valves.

It's the best instrument in the band.

Don't say that anywhere else, but... -Being a member of this band, extra special.

-I've got history from my family in it, and I've got, I guess, family in the band, even though they're not blood related.

And I just like being able to play something.

Our band, we just get to do so much fun stuff.

And just for being in it, it's so much fun.

I love being in the band.

There's so many opportunities I would never get before.

-In the 25 years Mr.

Pardee has served as director of bands at Foothill, he's made sure his students get to experience these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

-We've done some cool things: Macy's Parade; Rose Parade; St.

Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland; National Memorial Day Parade in DC.

We've, we've done some pretty special events: Played Carnegie Hall.

We did Pearl Harbor.

We did, we did the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France.

-For students like Angel Calderon... (Angel Calderon) It's a French horn, and this is what I play for concert season.

But usually in marching band I play something called the mellophone.

-...who ended up in band, well, by chance.

-It wasn't even my first plan.

Art was my first plan, but then all the people already took it up.

And I feel like it's just been a huge blessing.

-He's more than ready to perform and celebrate America at 250.

-I find it really cool, and especially the fact that it's obviously the America's 250th anniversary.

It gets our band recognized around the world, basically.

I feel like I've done enough to be confident, and I obviously have an amazing teacher and amazing students with me.

-And when these students proudly march in the parade in Philly... -The beat is not in the knee, my single ladies.

Yes, okay?

The beat is in the heel-- down, down, down.

-Not all songs will be patriotic ones.

-We will likely do a patriotic medley called "A Salute to Freedom," and then we're probably going to do "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars, which has nothing to do with the 250th anniversary.

But, hey, here we are.

It's America.

Bruno Mars is a great American performer, so that's what we're doing.

♪♪ -Fresh off their epic performance with Bruno Mars on the Las Vegas Strip... -We marched right behind Bruno Mars, so it was just like a huge thing, because it's like marching right behind a celebrity that is very big now to our state.

So I was really excited, and it was very fun.

I had a lot of fun with it.

-...this award-winning marching band will no doubt make memories they will treasure for years to come.

-I think it means a lot, because I get to play for my country, which is, it makes me happy because I'm glad that we're able to even have this country.

-I feel a lot of pride with it, because being in this program has been like the biggest blessing for me.

I love this program.

It's an amazing program.

It teaches you not only music, but it also teaches you that you have a family within.

So I think it's very fun that we get to go places, not only, but just to have a family to go with.

♪♪ -Bravo!

And the band's performance, by the way, in Wilmington, Delaware, happened July 1.

The parade in Philadelphia is Friday, July 3.

And, Amber, I can't say it enough, so proud of these talented students.

-Yes, bravo.

And I know that it is summer, so they're not in school, but are they getting some history lessons while they're on the East Coast?

-Yeah.

The band director tells me this is something that's really important when they go to any trip.

He wants to make sure that they get to visit the area they're at.

In this part, I mean, they're in Philadelphia, right?

So they're going to visit the Liberty Bell, and then they're also heading off--it's not all work and no play--they're also going to head off to New York City.

I can tell you, a lot of the students, really excited about New York City.

-Oh, I'm sure.

All right.

Maria Silva, thank you for bringing us such rich histories of how Southern Nevadans are honoring this holiday, this 250th anniversary of our country.

-It's been my honor.