Tallahassee couple Harry and Nancy Everhart were on a 40-day vacation in Europe. Their last stop was Paris, France, to visit their son and his family. Little did they know that they’d be crossing paths with an iconic piece of their hometown.
When the Everharts discovered that Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 would be playing at the Eiffel Tower following its Louis Vuitton Fashion Show performance on June 23, they packed a picnic lunch, walked over to the tower and waited for them to show up.
“Our son lives only two blocks from there,” Nancy Everhart said. “That’s where his kids play every day after school at the playground right there at the Eiffel Tower.”
Marching 100 coverage:
The couple extensively travels around Europe during the summertime and have been going more frequently ever since their son, FSU alumnus Keith Everhart, started living there with his wife, Elizabeth Everhart, and two children.
Harry Everhart, 74, is a retired middle school teacher while Nancy Everhart, 67, is a professor at Florida State University’s School of Information. She has also taught at the FSU London Study Center during summer terms a few times, including in 2019, where she would often take her students to Paris for a weekend or day trip.
The couple read about the Marching 100 being in Paris and got in touch with FAMU’s Assistant Director of Media Relations Andrew Skerritt, who was on the trip. Skerritt informed them that the band would be at the Eiffel Tower that evening.
“The band just came on the green behind the Eiffel Tower, and people were curious simply because they had uniforms on that looked unusual,” Harry Everhart said. The students were in their orange and green FAMU attire.
“Then, when they struck it up, the crowd gathered and the people loved it.”
The Marching 100 played their way toward the Eiffel Tower from where their bus was parked, and they performed a few selections for about 30 minutes as a crowd gathered around to watch and applaud.
“A lot of people heard about the excitement that the band generated at the Louis Vuitton event without even being able to see them,” Skerritt said, “so this was like a gift to the people.”
Besides the couple and the Paris locals in the crowd at the Eiffel Tower, Skerritt met individuals from as far as Mexico and Canada as well as Americans from states including Louisiana and California.
“It was fabulous and very joyful,” Nancy Everhart said. “You could tell the students were so happy to be there and so proud of their band. We were in Europe for over a month, so it was just so nice to have something from America and hear something so familiar.”
The Pennsylvania natives have been living in Tallahassee for almost 20 years. FAMU’s campus is less than a mile away from their home, so they often hear the band play during their rehearsals.
Ironically, the couple’s son and his family flew to Tallahassee in April 2021 to get tested and vaccinated for COVID-19 at the FAMU test site since France did not start giving out vaccinations to individuals 18 and older until the end of May 2021.
FAMU test site coverage:
“When we were in Paris, we asked the kids if they remembered going to get the COVID test at FAMU,” Harry Everhart said. “They remembered very well, and I told them this was the band from there. That was a really neat catch.”
Their grandkids, 6-year old Max and 3-year-old Helen, danced along to the music as the band played.
“While they performed, our little granddaughter said ‘I want to play the tuba,'” Nancy Everhart said.
Harry Everhart documented their encounter with the Marching 100 on his blog, Florida Coalcracker Chronicles, which is full of photos of the band and a crowd of people who jumped in to pose with them once they were done playing.
“I was really happy to see the students having such a great experience,” Harry Everhart said. “We love Florida A&M.”
While still in Paris, the couple celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary on June 24 and returned to Tallahassee at the end of their trip on Saturday.
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.
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