Walking 528 feet should not be a big deal.

But when you’ve had a couple of cocktails, eaten your weight in passed appetizers and your brain is already fuzzy with the anticipation of Boulder International Film Festival’s opening night, even the short stroll from the Hotel Boulderado to the Boulder Theater can feel like a journey.

So it makes sense why BIFF’s festival organizers would want to bring in professionals to help guide attendees from Point A to Point B on a night that’s notorious for its pre-movie merriment.

Rather than uniformed security guards with earpieces and burly muscles that speak of authority, these guides show up armed with … brass instruments?

Meet the Guerilla Fanfare Brass Band, the riotous, high-energy ensemble that’s responsible for transforming this brief walk into a full-blown, New Orleans-style, second-line parade. Rather than merely leading festival-goers to the theater, they prefer to scoop them up in a whirlwind of horns and drums, subsequently turning downtown Boulder into an impromptu dance party.

Over the years, this short parade has become one of BIFF’s most beloved traditions.

For Guerilla Fanfare director and sousaphone player Zach Brake, the gig is always something of a homecoming.

“Our history actually starts in Boulder,” Brake said. “I’m a CU Boulder graduate, and so are two of my bandmates — we actually met during marching band in college. Even though we don’t live there anymore, it still feels like home. We love any chance to come back, especially for something like the Boulder International Film Festival, which is such a great institution. We were offered a gig probably in 2017 or 2018, and it was awesome.”

Since that first festival gig, BIFF has made sure to keep Guerilla Fanfare in the mix — and for good reason. The festival’s opening night kicks off with swanky pre-film parties at the Boulderado and Rembrandt Yard, where guests sip WhistlePig cocktails, nibble on hors d’oeuvres from Pasta Jay’s and My Neighbor Felix, and mingle under the warm glow of festival anticipation.

Just when things start to feel a bit like wearing a warm pair of slippers, Guerilla Fanfare crashes in to shake it all up.

“We always surprise people because we just roll in and interrupt whatever’s happening,” Brake said. “Then we scoop everybody up, and it’s like a hurricane — we clear the place out. I imagine being in the shoes of someone working at the venue — you go back to the kitchen to get something, and when you return, you’re just like, ‘Where did everybody go?’”

And it’s not just the party guests who get swept up in the revelry. Some years the procession has picked up extra attendees along the way.

“We’d just have everybody — basically anybody who was out on Pearl Street on that particular night — mobbing out there,” he said. “A bunch of people would come closer, kind of eyeing us with curiosity, and we’d scoop them up, basically. It’s all about that crazy and chaotic and collective energy.”

If you’ve never experienced this parade firsthand, the transition from sipping cocktails to suddenly marching behind a brass band down Spruce Street can be disorienting. But that’s the beauty of it.

“People are usually pretty hyped up. It’s communal music — you’re moving, everyone around you is moving, and before you know it, you’re part of it,” Brake said. “We like to hype the crowd up—like, ‘Let’s take over the street.’ And we basically do.”

This year, Guerilla Fanfare will bring a nine-member lineup — slightly smaller than usual, but still more than enough to turn a sidewalk into a second line. The setlist is, according to Brake, slated to include a mix of New Orleans classics, pop covers and brass-band bangers. Though, in true jazz fashion, much of it will be decided on the fly.

“We’re a really reactive band, so if we play something and the crowd is into it, we’ll lean into that and follow it up with more in that vein,” Brake said. “That’s why we always leave things a little open-ended — we want to make space for improvisation and those moments of magic.”

By the time the band reaches the Boulder Theater, the festival will be in full swing. Attendees will take their seats, the lights will dim, and the night’s feature presentation, “The Friend”, will begin. But for those who spent the last half-hour dancing in the street, the opening night of BIFF will have already made its mark.

“We know the route, but we don’t know what kind of stuff we’re gonna get into along the way,” Brake said. “Nobody does. And that’s what makes it so incredibly fun.”