After Rose Parade glory, flights carrying Rosemount High School's marching band get diverted
ROSEMOUNT, Minn. – On Tuesday night, there was a "full ground stop" at MSP at about 6:30 p.m., after another plane landing from Cabo San Lucas slid 30 feet off the taxi way into a snow bank.
This temporary closure caused several evening flights to divert, including two planes carrying the Rosemount High School Marching Band.
Two-hundred-and-thirty-four students and their staff were on their way home after performing in the Tournament of Roses Parade in California, which was an unforgettable moment for them to be one of 15 bands participating, and the only one from Minnesota.
"To see all those people there, knowing that they would see the Rosemount High School Marching Band and that we were representing bands in Minnesota, that was super cool," said senior Ben Cobian.
The band was lead by four directors, including Leon Sieve.
"Our students, they have to be flexible in everything we do and kind of roll with the punches at times," Sieve said.
The students put that lesson into practice Tuesday night after they left LAX and headed back home. The band and staff were separated into two charter planes and both needed to be diverted to neighboring states.
"We then had to circle around MSP for about 30 minutes before they directed us to Eau Claire because MSP was closed," Cobian said.
"I think we all looked at each other like, 'There's an airport in Eau Claire?' I mean, who would have known, right [laughs]?'" Sieve said.
The other charter plane carry band members diverted to Des Moines, Iowa. While the students prepped for an overnight stay, they luckily took off again and made it back to Minnesota about four hours later than they were supposed to.
Cobian looked at the bright side of this lengthy airplane ride.
"It's been a long four years, friends I've had for four years, so it was nice to stay with them as long as we can, even if it was for an emergency," he said.
A lot of the students' parents were in California with them, taking separate, commercial flights back home. They were also diverted to different states and were stranded overnight, but many of them made it back to Minnesota by Wednesday morning.
