The North Lamar High School Marching Band, under the direction of Randy Jones, Jason R. Smith, Cristian Gomez and Marcus Lutz; with assistance from Gina Ervin and Chris Garza, traveled to Mineola on Monday, Oct. 14, to compete in the Mineola Marching Festival.
Over 30 bands, class 2A through 5A, showed up to compete in the festival.
“There were a lot of great bands at this contest, our students were excited about whom they were competing with,” said Marcus Lutz Percussion Instructor.
Battling with the chance of rain all day, the band was confronted with the obstacle of whether to perform in the rain or not.
“We were grateful the contest scheduled us last so that many of our kids could run in the district cross country meet and make the band contest. But the rain started moving in when we were to perform. Our students wanted the opportunity to perform so we took a chance and did it. The rain and drizzle can be very damaging to woodwinds and our electric keyboards, so after the performance, our parents and students rushed to dry off our instruments and dry out our uniforms; we are blessed to have some amazing parents that do whatever we need in times like those,” explained Randy Jones head director.
The North Lamar High School Marching Band did not disappoint, “through the rain, they put on the best performance of the year. Color Guards flags were soaked and getting heavy with water, student’s glasses were fogging up and they couldn’t see slick AstroTurf field… it didn’t matter to them and they performed like it was a beautiful calm day. Truly amazing!” said Cristian Gomez color guard instructor.
The Band was awarded first place in Class 4A, beating the current 4A state champs, Canton. They also took first place in Color Guard, first place in Percussion, Outstanding soloist was awarded to Stoney Shelton and Grand Champion for the whole contest.
“The crowd and judges really loved our performance, we have been getting lots of compliments from around the state for what our students are doing. They work so hard and push themselves, it is great to see them rewarded and appreciated.,” said Jason Smith associate director, “it is very humbling to get to work with them every day.”
