After Ruining Drums, Floodwood Gets Creative

FLOODWOOD, Minn. (AP) -- Floodwood junior Jason Myrvold wanted the drummers in his school's marching band to really stand out during last month's Duluth Christmas City of the North Parade.

So, he came up with a spectacular plan to use glow sticks, then break them open and smear the contents on the drum heads. The glowing drums were brilliant -- for about five minutes, before the drum heads began shattering.

"It looked really cool until they all started breaking," Myrvold told the Duluth News Tribune. "Then it was, 'Oh no, what are we going to do?"'

A few people also cut their hands on shards of glass that were inside the glow sticks. And when all was said and done, the band was faced with $464 in damage.

"They meant well," band and music director Dave Myers said. "Of course I was mad. But they knew they messed up."

So Myers and the six boys involved hatched a plan to "Rent-a-Drummer" -- allowing local businesses or individuals to rent out the students to do a job so they could work off some of their debt.

One of the bidders was Floodwood Farm and Feed. Jan LeFarge said the company offered to let each of the six boys work one Saturday for two hours, and the company will pay the entire $464 to the school.

"I don't think that it's bad," LeFarge said of what the boys did. "These kids were trying to make their band special. I just think it's creative -- creativity gone awry."

If the boys end up working for Floodwood Farm and Feed, the work will be labor intensive, LeFarge said.

Myrvold said he and the others are ready.

"No one is afraid of it," he said. "Because we messed up, so we're fixing it."

Other companies have also bid on the boys' services. The teens said they plan to work those jobs as well to raise a little extra money for a new set of bells.

But Myrvold jokingly said the extra money could be insurance.

"Why not go with it in advance of future incidents?" he said. "I still have a year left of school."

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