Yesterday nearly 200 McLean High School Band students and 60 parent chaperones swept across the community in small groups, knocking door-to-door and performing in front of bustling shopping centers. By the end of the day they had collected a stunning total of almost 35 thousand dollars in donations.

This annual fundraiser– nicknamed “Tag Day,” a leftover title from decades before when the band distributed small paper tags– is vital to the award-winning program’s success, generating a large percent of the funds needed to purchase instruments, sheet music, and other equipment, none of which are provided by the county. It all depends on the enormous generosity of the McLean community.

“I had four people in my group, and this year we got about a thousand dollars,” sophomore Hannah Aronson said. “Most of the people were happy to donate.”

Like Aronson’s group, a cluster of four to five students can accumulate from 400 to over 2000 dollars in just several hours of knocking on neighborhood doors.

Meanwhile, student groups stationed at shopping centers such as Giant, Starbucks, and Chesapeake Bagel not only raised funds for the band but also connected with the community.

“People come up to donate, mentioning that their children went to or attends McLean,” said junior Sandy Cho, whose group spent Tag Day in front of the McLean Family Resturant along with her fellow group members.”Others mention that they are alumni or friends or family of alumni. One guy even came up to us for a picture!”

Some of these shopping center groups play music throughout the day. Senior Kimia Zadegan, who performed in a clarinet quintet at Books-A-Million, enjoyed and appreciated the experience.

“[Playing in a quintet] demonstrates how much the donations mean to us and how much they help us become the players we are,” Zadegan said. “This year’s Tag Day was a wonderful experience because I was able to give back to the people who continue to support our program in a completely new way — performing for them. It was wonderful.”

Band director Chris Weise is also satisfied with the day’s outcome.

“I feel very relieved that we accomplished our goal for our budget because that is extremely important to our success this year,” Weise said. “I also feel very grateful for the students, parents, and community that are supporting this program by either working today or giving generously.”