By Brannigan Watson | Reporter

On Saturday, September 16, the Avon Marching Black and Gold was named champion of the 2017 Bands of America Northeast Ohio Regional. The band was the Class AAAA regional champion, overall champion, and took all caption titles. The caption titles included Visual Performance, Music Performance, and General Effect. They finished the event with a score of 76.1. This was the first competition of the season for the marching band.

The trip was a two-day event that included more than just the competition. It started at six-thirty a.m. on a Saturday morning when students arrived at Avon High School to load six motor coaches and depart to Canton, Ohio.

The band arrived in Canton that afternoon, got into uniform and went straight to warm-up for their preliminary performance. The score they receive at this performance helps determine what spot they will perform in at finals.  This was their first competitive performance of the year in full costume and uniform.

Junior Kayla Gray said that she had been excited even before the competition that day.

“I had been super excited the entire week before. I couldn’t wait and even though we were all tired and sitting around on the bus, I just kept thinking about how much fun I would get to have with my friends,” Gray said.

After their preliminary performance, the students changed out of uniform and had a pizza dinner at a local school that they were allowed to stay at between performances. They were then given a schedule for the rest of the night based on their finals performance time, loaded the coaches again and headed back to the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium to warm up and perform their show, Testament, again for finals competition.

Freshman Rylee Wilson said that she was more scared for finals than prelims.

“Finals was scarier because it was a really big deal but it was still cool,” Wilson said.

After their performance the students went to full retreat, meaning that every student of the competing bands went out on the field for awards. This was when the band was given their title of Regional Champion.

Junior Chloe Pendleton said that both winning and meeting other bands was great.

“Winning felt good but meeting other bands was an awesome and great experience,” Pendleton said.

After the competition, the band changed clothes, loaded the coaches and headed to a hotel in Cleveland to get rested for the activities of the following day. They started the following day by heading to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The students were given time to walk through the Hall of Fame with their friends and look at the exhibits of their choice.

Freshman Lauren Scherrer said the Hall of Fame was her favorite activity.

“The Hall of Fame was my favorite, I had a lot of fun learning about the history of rock,” Scherrer said.

Once the band finished their time at the hall of fame they headed to a private party in a location reserved for them only. There they were able to eat, play arcade games and bowl with their fellow band members and staff members.

Gray said she had a lot of fun at the arcade and would do it again.

“I thought the bowling and arcade was a brilliant idea. I had so much fun and I would love to do something like that again,” Gray said.

The band then left for their return trip back to Avon High School. The students stopped for a food break and arrived back at the high school at 10:30 P.M. on Sunday night, returning to their regular band rehearsals on Monday evening. They will be participating in their next out of state performance in October.