For the first time in school history, Bayfield High School took a first-place award at regionals in Grand Junction. All of the band members’ hard work culminates this weekend and Monday at two more competitions more than 400 miles apart.
On Saturday, it competes at the Zia Marching Band Fiesta at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
After coming home for a night, the 61 band members travel to Grand Junction on Sunday and compete at 9:15 a.m. Monday morning against five other bands in the state semifinals 1A category of the Colorado Bandmasters Association State Championships. The top three bands move into the 1A finals late Monday afternoon.
This year’s show theme for BHS is “Uncle Sam vs. Santa Claus.”
“Each year, the marching band has a theme for their field show,” explained Derek Smith, director of the BHS band. Smith said he and his wife, Kristi, came up with the idea of a battle of the holidays. The show uses popular music heard at two special times of year, Independence Day and Christmas. The show features hummable tunes such as “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” “America The Beautiful,” the songs of all five military branches, “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” and “Silent Night.”
