And the crowd watching it comes from all 50 states and from different countries. They are mostly whites, but there are blacks here, too. The different kinds of music bring the different kinds of people together to a place where there are no barriers, no divisions, where music is the only language and music lovers are the only race. With all the flags flying from standards up and down Main Street representing the counties where the foreign bands are from, with all the bands from around the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe, with all the people from all over, this little town of 15,000 people is like a little U.N., at least for a weekend. The band members from around the world were playing together and the people from different parts of this country and Europe and Asia were enjoying it together.
Music is truly the international language.
And one thing that keeps us coming back is that they try to add something new and different every year. Most parades and festivals of this kind are dying. Skip Stubblefield is convinced that it will be a long time before the Danville festival and the parade that's a high point of it will die. He thinks it's especially fun this year, performing alongside bands from other countries. But when you come here, you discover there are not only other musicians but a lot of other regular people who share the love of brass band music.