Medina Marching Band wins at Festival of Bands

Photos by Sue Cook – The color guard dances and waves flags around the lined up marching band.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to say Band Boosters offer scholarships and help fund the annual spring trip. The band program is open to all students, regardless of their ability to pay.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

MEDINA – The Medina Mustang Marching Band won first place Saturday when it hosted a New York State Field Band Conference competition. Seven other bands joined Medina at Vets Park.

Medina marches out in preparation to take the field.

Brenda Waild’s daughter Nicole plays marching machine, chimes, cymbal and bass drum in the marching band.

Brenda commented that Nicole loves the band, saying, “She’s very musical and really enjoys it. She enjoys the friendly atmosphere that we have here. She also enjoys the competitions and going out to other schools.”

Chad Kenward said he and his wife motivated their daughter Madison Kenward to join the band.

“Her mother and I were in band together,” he said. “We encouraged her to join and she loves it. She participates in concert band, jazz band and field band. She plays mellophone.”

Medina moved through various formations during their performance.

“It’s long and hard for those kids,” said Herb Grosslinger.

His daughter Keala Grosslinger is a member of the color guard and works with the rifles and flags. The color guard practices with the band twice a week as well as performing during games with them.

“She practices every night twirling rifle,” he said of Keala’s dedication. “She really likes it and these kids work really hard for what they do.”

Many of the parents stated that the kids in marching band and color guard operate like a very large family. Parents and band members work together raising money for the program so it is open to all students, regardless of their ability to pay.

For the Festival of Bands in Medina, the school performed a Miss Saigon repertoire including “The Heat is On,” “Please,” “March of the Dragon,” and “Fall of Saigon.” There are 105 band members and 25 color guard performers.

At the end of the performance, the band ran behind the Miss Saigon display boards as a huge flag was carried across the field by the color guard.

While waiting for the results to be read, the drum majors were all asked to entertain the audience by dancing to some Beach Boys music. The Medina students were happy to oblige.

Medina classified as a Small School 1 band and won first place in its category with 81.35 points against Northwestern from Albion, Penn., which scored 76.55.

At the end of the night, when the 50/50 raffle drawing was done, Wendi Pencille, a member of the Medina Board of Education, won $468 and immediately donated it back to the marching band.