Marching to the Beach
      KHS Marching Band competes at State Far

by Haley Miller

Each year the Kansas State Fair holds a marching band competition for local high school and middle school bands. The competition gives bands the opportunity to demonstrate their talents and showcase their hard work in front of judges. This year the Kingman High School Band participated for the first time.

One hundred six schools and 6,339 students participated and were rated on marching as well as performance. The largest school that attended was Andover Central High School with 180 members, and the smallest school present was Hoisington High School with 11 members. Kingman competed with 36 members.

Bands marched and performed on the first Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the fair. The KHS Band left early Wednesday morning and immediately began marching after arriving in Hutchinson. While marching down Main Street the weather took a turn for the interesting when it began raining for 5 minutes. The band performed The Fight Song and I Get Around with the cadence in between each song. They received a II+ on marching.

After marching, they loaded the bus and went to the fair grounds. There they marched from the entrance to the stage with the drum line playing the cadence. On stage they performed I Get Around and In My Room in front of an audience and judges. They received a II on performance.

The two songs performed are part of this year’s Beach Boy theme Half Time Marching Show. The other song that’s part of the show but wasn’t performed at the fair is Fun Fun Fun.

After their hard work, the band enjoyed three hours of food and fun at the fair. The success of this year will likely influence a return visit next year.