High school bands on display at fair
WASHINGTON – High School Band Night is among the best-attended events at the Washington County Fair each year, and this year was no exception. More than 10,000 people attended the fair for the event, with at least half of them packed into the grandstand area for the band season preview. According to fair board president Lee Robinson, 10 of the county’s 14 high schools sent bands to the event. Each band had a chance to walk home with one of three $500 prizes determined by the spin of a prize wheel. They were also eligible for a $100 prize for painting a bus used in the school bus demolition derby.
Each also was given a chance to showcase its talents, giving a brief view of the coming season. The California Area High School Band performed two selections from this year’s show based around the theme “Around the World in Seven Minutes.” The band has added a dance team to its program this year in addition to the silk line. Shelley Guerra, who started the dance team at California University of Pennsylvania, is the choreographer for the high school dancers.
“My niece asked me if I would do it and I said I would,” Guerra said.
Her niece then moved to the Belle Vernon Area School District.
“I stayed and the program stayed. We dance to whatever the band plays,” Guerra said.
The performance at the fair included the Chicken Dance, complete with feather boas, and God Bless the USA, with the dancers using streamers.
“The dancers and the silks all move together,” Guerra said.
Band director Frank Stetar said that while the Chicken Dance doesn’t seem to fit the international theme at first glance, it was a perfectly natural choice.
“When we were going around the world, we got to the Bridal Dance and the Chicken Dance is pretty popular, so we threw in the Chicken Dance. They’re having fun with it,” Stetar said.
The student enthusiasm was high for the performance. Volunteers continually reminded the band members to stay focused prior to the performance. With 59 members, including the dancers, the flag line and the auxiliary percussion unit know as “The Pit,” California had the smallest band in the program. The four members of the pit play about a dozen instruments.
“We have more instruments, we just don’t have all of our songs done,” said Tom Anielewski, the pit captain.
The band contains a number of eighth grade students, including Douglas Boyd, a member of the pit, who has been playing percussion for three years. He was playing granite blocks, wind chimes and suspended cymbal for the performance.
“When I work with the curriculum with the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, I gave them the option if they worked hard in seventh, they can move up (to the high school band) a year early,” Stetar said.
Numerous volunteers work with the band on and off the field, helping with props for the dancers, moving equipment into place for the pit, and encouraging the teens.
“We have a great band parent organization. We have at least four or five there every day,” Stetar said. “For the dance team, this being their first year, about 80 percent of the parents participated. They were putting in eight and 10 hour days.”
Among the band parents in the stands were Norm and Ellen Hasbrouck, who are on their second round of band parenting. Between band members they also raised a football player.
“We’ve always been chaperones on the buses with both, and band buses are a lot more fun because after a losing football game, you don’t want to be on the bus,” Norm Hasbrouck said.
Ellen Hasbrouck said the performance at the fair is a great way for the students to complete their summer. “It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work on the part of the kids and their instructors. I’d like to thank the fair board for the competition and the bus painting. It really brings the kids together,” Ellen Hasbrouck said.