An insider view of the Marching Classic

This past weekend, I had the lovely experience of being a band host at the Waseca Marching Classic. Being a band host means I am assigned to an out-of-town band; it’s my job to answer questions, lead them where they need to go, and just generally be of help.

I was assigned to the Blaine Marching Band, a 65-strong band with an enthusiastic new director. 

The day started out with the classic parade, which seemed like a completely successful event to me. I walked the parade route with Blaine’s band, then waited near Trowbridge Park with their drum majors for the awards. When the Waseca Marching Jays came “parading” down the street, I was filled with emotion.

I miss marching, but I can still take joy in supporting and cheering for the Marching Jays. Those kids work incredibly hard; it’s invigorating to see exactly how far they’ve come. 

After the parade, Blaine had a bit of a break so my sister and I (she was helping me for the day) got food and ran home for some deodorant and change of clothes. You know, the usual things. 

But that’s when things started to get interesting. On Saturday, the weather was very questionable from a band viewpoint. While the rain stayed away for most of the day, it started pouring down right when we wished it hadn’t. Usually, the Classic field show is held outside, with all of the bands performing their field shows at the football field. With the rain, everyone and everything had to be moved inside. 

Moving around ten marching bands inside with all of their equipment and chaperones and arriving fans was absolute chaos. Everyone was assigned designated weather spots in the high school, but soon those were switched and again we had to move all the equipment to another spot. Once that was done, it was a matter of making sure the kids had all they needed before going to a band director meeting for more information. Devon Lawrence, Waseca’s band director, along with Dr. Miller and others were fantastic at swiftly making decisions as to how the rest of the night was going to go with everything moved inside. Instructions were given and then we were off. 

Blaine had to wait a bit until they could warm up and perform so I was running around the building helping my mother and grandmother with their band, Luverne, and offering assistance wherever I could. I’ll just say by the end of the night it felt great to sit down again. 

The “field” shows went fairly smoothly considering the circumstances. Instead of marching and moving across the field, bands stood in positions in the gym and played, while doing some movements. Of course that meant they were only judged based on musicality, so it all worked out, in my opinion. 

Once Blaine was done, I was pretty much free to go, so I rushed back to the gym to watch Eastview’s marching band perform. I love Eastview’s band. Their field show this year was cowboy themed, and they had ditched the regular uniforms for jeans, button ups, ponchos, and cowboy hats. It was fantastic. 

And then, of course, the Waseca Marching Jays. Obviously, it wasn’t as good as if they had actually marched, but I still loved watching them perform their show, Nova. 

At the end of the day, I went home happy and satisfied knowing I had just spent an entire day surrounded by not only music, but by the love of music. It was a comforting feeling that I hadn’t felt in a while, one I made sure to take a minute to appreciate. Over all, it was a good day and I highly recommend anyone who might want to volunteer as a band host next year to do it! I was nervous at first but it was a lot of fun and I didn’t have to worry.

My Determination: “I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I can always look back on my life and say I went for it.” - Peter Griffin, Family Guy