Pride of Plymouth hosts festival of bands

October 11, 2010

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Photo by Greg Hildebrand Twirling flags for the Pride is Tori Fox.

PLYMOUTH — Plymouth High School welcomed marching bands from 15 high schools on Saturday in the 12th annual Harvest Festival of Bands.
The bands began performing at 5 p.m. and the last performance ended near 9:30 p.m.
First place in Class A went to Elkhart Central with 75.05 points and closely following was the second place winner, Warsaw, with 71.50 points. Third place Chesterton had 70.90 points.
Bands are judged on music performance, visual performance and general effect by a panel of six judges who are watching for specific techniques.
Although Plymouth does not take a trophy at the event, they did perform an exhibition that netted 73.30 points. The Pride of Ply-mouth is under the direction of Bryan Ames and Lisa Wallen. Additional staff members coaching the different entities include Nikki Horner (color guard), Travis Miner, Pat Butler, Matt Harloff, Dean Westman, Jeff Williams, Alyssa Cabrera, Ben Kraszyk, James Cart-wright, and Mary Pat Glaub.
Drum majors for the 117-member Plymouth band are Tori MacLain, Elisabeth Wolford, Addie Palmer and Stephen Johnson.
Twenty-one parents headed up the logistics of the festival by serving as team leaders. They recruited the help of many other parents of Plymouth band members as well. Leaders headed up in the following: Event, communications, equipment, programs/tickets, food/ hospitality, concessions, jud-ges booth, first aid, parking, water station, guides, and set-up/clean-up.
Winning in the Class B division was Munster with 71.70 points followed by Lowell with 71.20 points.
Other bands participating included Bremen, Pioneer, Taylor, Northwestern, Lewis Cass, Garrett, Knox, NorthWood and Western.
Plymouth High School Principal Jim Condon shared his appreciation for the event in a special program designed and coordinated by Jeff and Lenore Jones.
“Our goal at Plymouth High School is to provide our students with a challenging comprehensive learning program promoting academic excellence,” Condon said. “We firmly believe that the continued development of a strong fine arts program is essential to our goal.”
Condon asked those attending the event to take advantage of what he termed a very special opportunity to observe and celebrate the efforts of young people working cooperatively.