Joyful noise: Band Day returns

It was a day full of loud and elegant sounds on Robinson-Lewis Field at Dark Horse Stadium this past Saturday. Visitors from all around gathered there to celebrate the triumphant return of the annual Clinton Band Day, the school’s 24th.

“As the person who planned it, this wasn’t my first time; I’ve been a part of it before and I just have to say my Band Board did a really very good job,” CHS Marching Band Boosters President Jan Usher said. “Their execution was vital in making the day go smoothly.”

“I felt like everyone was a team player and if there were any hiccups, it was very few and nobody would’ve even noticed.”

Smooth it was as bands from around the Sampson County area all met on the field for friendly competition without issues.

While competing, each band was judged in a multitude of categories vying for first, second and third place trophies. These included horn line, percussion, color guard and drum major. Each band that performed at Band Day walked away with a few pieces of hardware, but only four were selected for the other awards.

The final four awards were for Grand Champion Band, won by Jack Britt High School; Ed Taylor Pride of Clinton, won by E.A. Laney High School; People’s Choice, which went to Midway High School; and Best Band Director, went to Triton High School.

There were 12 participants for Band Day — Lee County, Harnett Central, Triton, Terry Sanford, Bunn, South View, Gray’s Creek, E.A. Laney and Jack Britt and Sampson County’s own Lakewood, Hobbton and Midway.

“Instead of 12, we would’ve had 14 but they had to back out the week of because of COVID and flu,” said Usher. “But one of those bands came from West Bladen just to see how Band Day works. Since it was a smaller band, we allowed that to happen so they could get this experience so that they might want to come back later.”

One of the major highlights from Band Day’s return was the amount of support it received, something Usher couldn’t help but praise.

“It was a great outpouring of support from the community; I think they were excited to have it come back,” Usher said. “The support of the bands was great as well, I felt like we had a very good turnout, especially since COVID and the flu took out two of our bands.”

“Of course we had great support from our area high schools Lakewood, Midway and Hobbton.”

“I mean Midway had their Band Day the week before, but they were still very supportive with donations and we really appreciate that,” Usher continued. “I even had some seasoned folks that have done this before like past band presidents and concession planners come help — they really did a very good job.”

Proceeds from the CHS Band Day will go towards further growing the CHS Band. It’ll help to offset travel costs or other related needs such as money for their banquets and awards. This will also complement the funds Band Boosters have been saving to purchase a new trailer for the band.

Now that the CHS Band Day has finally made its official return, which was met with great success, Usher’s looked to the future.

“I’m very pleased with all of our help that came back — I think the kids had a great day,” she said. “We exceeded our goal with getting it started and we hope that it continues on for many years to come.”

“And again, we really appreciate the community support and the sponsorships; that means a lot to our organization,” she said. “Them giving to us helps us to give back to them so we can exceed with the program to make it bigger and better.”

“We’re looking forward to next year, the first week in October.”