Bands march into Columbus festival

COLUMBUS -- Wearing maroon and black uniforms, the Columbus High School band led the pack at the 34th Annual Columbus Marching Festival.

The competition kicked off Saturday morning with a parade featuring a scheduled 22 bands. The groups stepped in time down 13th Street in front of cheering crowds and a panel of judges.

Later in the day, at Pawnee Park’s Memorial Stadium, 19 bands performed in the field competition. CHS closed out the Festival as the last band to take the field to perform three songs: “The Launch,” “The Open Sea” and “Discovery!”

After the parade, CHS drum major, senior Katie Irby, said she thought the band sounded good. She said the group was hoping to build on the success it had at its first competition in Norfolk. There the band earned excellent and superior ratings and won the sweepstakes.

“That was more than what we were expecting to do there,” Irby said.

The band has been practicing hard, prepping for the hometown competition. They have had good success in the past, earning a superior rating for several years in a row.

There was a variety of bands scheduled to take part in the competition this year, from the small, like the 23-member East Butler Marching Tigers, to the large 180-member Kearney Bearcat Marching Band.

Most bands performed in both the parade and the field competitions.

Irby said this year’s CHS band, which has 145 members and is directed by Jeff Peabody, has several strong points, the most important being the effort they put forth. She said its goal was to do the best it could, especially because it was performing in Columbus.

“We’ve done a lot this week. We want to put on the best show we can. We expect a lot,” Irby said. “And we love our home crowd.”

The following are results from the competition:

Columbus Marching

Festival Results

Parade

Class AA

1st Place - Kearney

2nd Place - Millard North

Class A

1st Place - Waverly

2nd Place - (Tie) York High School and Seward High School

Class B

1st Place - Syracuse

2nd Place - David City

Class C

1st Place - Aquinas

2nd Place - (Tie) East Butler and Fremont-Bergen

Class D

1st Place - Shelby

Field

Class AA - Ratings

Bellevue East High School - Division I, Superior

Millard North High School - Division I, Superior

Elkhorn High School - Division I, Superior

Kearney High School - Division I, Superior

Omaha Burke - Division I, Superior

Lincoln High - Division I, Superior

Columbus - Division I, Superior

Lincoln North Star - Division II, Excellent

Omaha Central - Division II, Excellent

Norfolk - Division II, Excellent

Omaha South - Division II, Excellent

Omaha Benson - Division II, Excellent

Class A - Ratings

Waverly - Division I, Superior

York High - Division II, Excellent

Seward - Division II, Excellent

Class B - Ratings

Syracuse - Division II, Excellent

David City - Division III, Good

Class C - Ratings

East Butler - Division II, Excellent

Aquinas - Division II, Excellent