37th Pasta Dinner: food, music, memories
The theme of this year’s Pasta Dinner was Italy, and the Music Parents decorated the cafeteria in accordance with it. Tables were adorned with centerpieces of flowers and spaghetti noodles in tomato cans, lights and black curtains were hung behind the makeshift “stage,” and bowtie noodles were scattered across the checkered tablecloths.
For many students, returning to school two hours after the final bell rings seems like some kind of torture. However, that was not the case last Thursday when hundreds of students, parents and other family members congregated in the Solon High School cafeteria with five dollars in hand to attend the 37th Annual Pasta Dinner.
The Pasta Dinner, a fundraiser orchestrated by the Solon Music Parents, offers attendees food, free musical entertainment courtesy of the four Solon jazz bands and the chance to win various prizes at a silent auction of donated gift baskets. However, while monetary gain is the motivation of the Music Parents, another group returns every year to perform for free: the jazz ensembles.
Local businesses and school organizations donated gift baskets filled with items such as Solon spirit wear, gift cards and even a flat-screen TV to be sold at the silent auction, which was set up in Senior Commons.
Separate from the concert and marching bands, the jazz ensembles feature a combination of brass, percussion and orchestral instruments. These bands also practice outside of school hours and require auditions to join.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get to do something like this again,” said senior Mariella Stephens of her final Pasta Dinner. Stephens plays bass in HS Jazz I, the more advanced of the high school’s two jazz bands.
In addition to half-hour performances from both of SHS’s jazz bands, Pasta Dinner attendees were also able to listen to the 7th and 8th grade jazz bands perform.
“Overall, it promotes a sense of unity within Solon High School as well as the middle school and allows the middle schoolers to understand what high school is like,” said senior Ben Moore, who plays drums in HS Jazz I.
Both Moore and Stephens have attended the Pasta Dinner six times, and said that since it is their senior year, they are feeling nostalgic.
HS Jazz I was the final band to perform, and some of their songs featured the vocal accompaniment of senior Erin Eisner, who also co-directed one of the One Acts.
“I don’t enjoy the dinner, but I enjoy being here,” Moore said, poking fun at the cafeteria-grade meal.
After eating and listening to the bands perform until 7 p.m., many attendees headed to the auditorium to watch the opening night of the Drama Club’s One Acts, another fundraiser for the school. Because the One Acts and the Pasta Dinner aren’t mutually exclusive, Stephens said she is grateful that so many people still take the time to listen to the jazz bands perform.
“I think it’s really nice to see people that you wouldn’t expect to see here, and the fact that they listen to you play, I think that’s really nice,” Stephens said. “Because it’s hard; playing music is not easy, so I appreciate that they get to hear that.”
Despite their sentimentality, the seniors found some silver linings in their final Pasta Dinner.
“I think this is the last time this will ever happen [to me], but it’s not the worst thing in the world because at least I’m moving forward in life,” Stephens said.
Moore’s final words about the dinners were even more eloquent: “While they are fun, they are tiring, and I have homework.”
