President George W. Bush marched in step with the Belton Marching 100 Friday night in Salado during festivities related to his daughter Jenna’s marriage.

“Some of them are still having trouble sleeping,” Scott Dudley, associate band director, said about his students. “They’re having dreams of dancing with President Bush.”

Only a handful of people in the district knew in advance about the performance. Parents of 44 students signed permission slips for their children to attend a “surprise event.”

And Belton people were not the only ones surprised by the performance.

At the Celebration Center in Salado, the band members were taken by the Secret Service to some trees behind the center where it was dark and they could not be seen.

When the wedding party left to go down to the Silver Spur Theater for a dance, Jenna Bush and Henry Hager were first out the door.

It was then the band struck up “Happy Birthday to You” to honor Hager on his 30th.

In the spirit of the moment he leaned over and gave his bride a kiss.

Then the wedding party formed a conga line down to the Silver Spur while the marching band followed playing Texas Fight.

Along the route the president tapped a band director on the shoulder and asked if they could play Texas Fight a second time.

The band also played “Eye of the Tiger,” which is one of its staples.

During the song President Bush danced briefly with a piccolo player and mingled among many of the band members.

“He was very personable and made time for the kids,” Dudley said. “It was the most amazing event of my professional career.”

Cynthia Escobar said she caught a glimpse of the president dancing near her and thought to herself, “is that really him?”

“I didn’t play for the rest of the song,” she said laughing.

The honor of playing for the wedding party was first extended to the Salado band. Dr. Robin Battershell, Salado ISD superintendent said she had to turn down the offer after she asked her band director if it was possible for the band to perform on May 9.

She knew the band was missing out on a unique opportunity but she couldn’t go into details about who they would be performing for and the band had already planned their annual trip for Friday.

“The band director told me that he would never turn down an invitation from a superintendent again,” she said with a laugh.

Belton High School Principal Kathy Cook said she was contacted on May 2 by Brenda Brown from Lake Belton Middle School to see if the band had an interest in playing. Ms. Brown’s daughter is a personal trainer of Jenna Bush.

The event remained a secret until Friday night when school officials collected all cell phones and cameras and put them in a crate and locked it in the office. The student were told just before they loaded on a bus.

The band members cheered but it wasn’t a total mystery to some.

“We kind of pieced things together,” said Lance Green. “We knew it was something big when they took our Social Security numbers.”

Green said Social Security numbers and practicing the ‘Happy Birthday song’ were major clues for band members who used the Internet to research what their ‘surprise event’ could be.

The band members found out beforehand that Hager’s birthday was Friday, and rumors began to spread but they were so unbelievable nobody took it too seriously.

The students were elated as they showed up at school Friday night to meet the bus. They had just seen the President’s motorcade pass on U.S. 317.

“If you think that’s great, you’re going to have an unbelievable time tonight,” Natalie Farber, associate principal said to herself.

The event left the students feeling a range of emotions.

“This was better than our trip to Disney World,” said Tim Durbin.

Mason Sanders said it took him two hours to get to sleep that night.