CLEVELAND -- A northeast Ohio band has been given the honor of being asked to perform in next month's presidential inaugural parade, but it may have to reject the invitation.

The Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums Band wants to go to Washington next month, but so do a million or more other people, which makes getting there tough.

Piper and Cleveland Heights firefighter Tom Garfield has one other reason to be excited; he says he is the great, great, great grandson of President James Garfield.

Because the invitation just came, the band of firefighters from 18 different northeast Ohio departments quickly found they had a problem.

"When we finally got the nod that we were going we had already looked around and found out we were not going to get any hotel rooms and transportation would be difficult so we figured we'd just scrub it," said Cleveland firefighter Andy Clark.

But then came the early wave of support from the community and other departments, and the hope that maybe they could make it work.

"We don't even care if it's a couple of hours away. We figured we were going to get nowhere near Washington D.C. We figured we're going to stay somewhere either in Pennsylvania or Maryland or Virginia," said member Ken Rybka.

Even that far out they'll be looking at a cost of about $15,000 for the 30 members. They have 10 days to raise the money.

To find out how you can help the band's efforts, go to www.clevelandfirepipers.com.

The only other Ohio band invited to take part in the parade is the Ohio State marching band.