BA History 101: Senior High Band Festival
The story on the senior high band festival was originally published in The Hylite newspaper.
This week we took a look back 25 years ago to when the annual senior high County Band Festival was held at Tyrone High School on March 3 and 4. On March 26, 1993, The Hylite, the precursor of The Blueprint, reported that 15 students represented Bellwood at this event. These students included Melissa Hunter, Becky King, Kristie Kirpatrick, Valerie Graham, Elizabeth Bower, Diana Nelson, Angie Harpster, Traci Nagle, Pat Stehley, Gwen Kustaborder, Bill Tull, Jaime Maillard, Rachel Cohan, and Chris Tyler.
That year the guest director was Colonel Jerry Friday. Mr. Friday was a band director from Chester County. He was a retired Colonel and he had also formerly directed the 553rd Air force Reserve Band in Harrisburg.
Due to bad weather conditions on the 4th , the concert was postponed until Monday, March 8 . Unfortunately, Colonel Friday had a conflicting schedule and was unable to make it. Mr. Roberts, the music teacher at the time, concluded, “Considering the weather factors, I was very pleased with the concert on Monday. This years county band seemed to come together as a group faster and, in the long run, better than in the past.”
