Tennessee State University's "Aristocrat of Bands" will strut down the street for patients and families at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center Friday, September 7 at 4:00 p.m.  Marching down Dunlap Street from Poplar Avenue, the band will play several pieces of music from their vast repertoire and a selection from their halftime performance at this year's 18th Southern Heritage Classic at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on September 8.

Following their performance in front of the hospital at 50 N. Dunlap, the band members will attend an informal pep rally in their honor in the hospital auditorium before touring patient units of the hospital.  Activities with band members and patients will include cookie decorating and making "Get Well" cards for Le Bonheur patients.

During their visit last year, band members and majorettes presented patients with teddy bears, sung sweet melodies to parents in the Neonatal Unit, prayed with parents in the Emergency Department and serenaded patients on 5-South Neuroscience Unit.

Fred Jones, Founder of the Classic, set up the Southern Heritage Foundation with an idea of giving back financially to the community that helped raise him. In the past few years, the foundation has given tens of thousands of dollars to local nonprofits and schools to help pave a way for the next generation to find its way.

For more information on the Southern Heritage Classic and other events, call SMC Entertainment at (901) 398-6655 or toll free (800) 332-1991, E-mail: smc@smcentertainment.net.