FAIRHOPE, Ala. - About 150 people from around the Eastern Shore will get the best of two springs this week as they leave the last of South Alabama’s azalea blooms behind and travel nearly 900 miles north to be a part of the National Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, D.C Saturday. A dozen young women of the 2010-2011 Dogwood Trail Court and the 100-member Fairhope High School marching band will be chaperoned to the nation’s capital this week to participate in the parade, which is billed as “one of Washington’s most exciting springtime traditions.”

The parade is part of the culmination of the two-week long National Cherry Blossom Festival, an annual celebration of Japan’s gift of trees to the United States in 1912. During their blooming season, the bright, five-petaled pink and white cherry blossoms draw nearly 100,000 spectators to downtown Washington D.C. each year.

The Dogwood Trail Court marched in the parade last year but this is the first time since 1980 that the Fairhope High School band has made an appearance, according to director Will Duncan.

“Everyone is excited,” Duncan said. “We have an itinerary 10 pages long.”

The band will board busses this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. for the 18-hour drive. They expected to spend Thursday, Friday and time after the parade Saturday sightseeing before returning at 11 p.m. Sunday. Students and parents of the band raised money for the trip with car washes, gift wrapping, selling cheesecakes and sponsorships.

The Dogwood Trail Maids, by securing donations from the Daphne Optimist club and Belk Charities, in addition to generous anonymous donations, will be flying to Washington. So among the band's cargo of uniforms and instruments will be the Trail Maids' pastel dresses, an amicable arrangement that will save the group shipping costs aboard an airline. Duncan's sister Margaret was a Dogwood Trail Maid in 1997.

Joann Broadus, executive director of the Eastern Shore Optimist Club, which sponsors the Dogwood Trail Court, said the parade has given the Court a lot of exposure in the past, and having the Fairhope High School band in this year's procession will only increase that exposure.

“People stop you and want to take pictures and ask where you're from,” Broadus said. “Everyone is just so interested in (the Court) and their costumes. It’s a big event for us.”

According to the parade’s website, it will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. (9 a.m. Central time) and run along Constitution Avenue from 7th to 17th streets. It will be simulcast live, in its entirety, online at www.wjla.com.

The parade includes floats, giant helium balloons, marching bands, and performers. The FHS band, appearing as the 53rd “unit” in the 100-unit parade, will be performing patriotic excerpts from it's 2010 field show, “Four Freedoms.” The Dogwood Trail Court will be the 99th unit.