Bands sound off at Armuchee
♦ The University of West Georgia plays in the exhibition at the band festival.
Marching band fans were treated to crisp marching movements and a lot of superior sound Saturday as 16 high schools bands competed in the 11th annual Armuchee Invitational Band Festival. Bands from as far south in Georgia as Starr’s Mill in Fayette County southwest of Atlanta to Dade County in the far northwest corner of the state made the trip to Floyd County for the event.
The University of West Georgia marching band hung around after the Wolves played Shorter at Barron Stadium Saturday to put on an exhibition performance to cap the event Saturday night.
Seth Bates, director of bands at Armuchee High and director of the festival, said the funds generated from the event are used to buy anything from uniforms to instruments for the Armuchee High band program. Bates said it’s always hard to project how much money the event will take in from year to year.
“We’d love to make $50,000 but that won’t ever happen. We do expect to make several thousand for our program,” Bates said.
He said the 16 bands is about normal for the event but that a few more bands made the trip from the Atlanta area than usual.
Mike Bright, band director at Pepperell High, said his band practices anywhere from six to eight hours a week right now. The band will be at Central Carroll for the Super Bowl of Sound competition next week and then participate in the annual Peach State Marching Festival at Barron Stadium on Oct. 27.
Bright said he believes the kids are a little more focused on their show during festivals like the Armuchee Invitational than they are at halftime on any given Friday night. The show, for Pepperell and most high school bands, is generally the same for festivals as it is for football games.
“We just keep trying to perfect it,” Bright said.
Other area bands that participated at Armuchee Saturday included Coosa, Model, Calhoun, Adairsville and Rockmart.