Band Festival

Drum4Life · Post by **Drum4Life** » Wed May 23, 2012 4:10 pm

There is a group of music lovers in Omaha that are trying to organize a national marching band competition here in Omaha. Â They are looking at the possibility of bringing more than 200 marching bands in from across the nation here to Omaha for a week long competition next summer. Â The event would involve both street marching and field marching competitions, as well as a huge parade of bands. Â They are currently looking at the availability of football fields and practice fields that could be used and trying to line up sponsors for the event. Â This could bring thousands of visitors to the city.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Wed May 23, 2012 4:56 pm

Lets break this down... lets say this has some validity, and 200 band members and their instruments travel to omaha for a competition. Â I'm no mathematician, but if my figures are correct, and assuming the average decent marching band has about 100 member, I would figure roughly 20000 visitors, not including family, staff or other bank geeks.

Seems hard to believe.

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Wed May 23, 2012 8:16 pm

S33 wrote:Lets break this down... lets say this has some validity, and 200 band members and their instruments travel to omaha for a competition. I'm no mathematician, but if my figures are correct, and assuming the average decent marching band has about 100 member, I would figure roughly 20000 visitors, not including family, staff or other bank geeks.

Seems hard to believe.

Maybe only the top 10 of each band get to come?

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Wed May 23, 2012 9:59 pm

I'll check my sources.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed May 23, 2012 10:04 pm

If this happens it would be great to get another weekend of hotels fully booked.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:39 pm

I know one of the guys who is in the group trying to organize the band competition. Â He said that this is not going to be a bunch of high school bands. Â The competition is going to be on the college level which makes this even more exciting, since the marching bands probably will actually be good. Â I've seen a good share of high school marching bands that royally suck. Â I was told that the group has secured several corporate sponsors already and they have already contacted college band directors about their plans. Â So far they have received nothing but positive feedback.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Wed May 30, 2012 10:00 pm

Anonymous wrote:I know one of the guys who is in the group trying to organize the band competition. He said that this is not going to be a bunch of high school bands. The competition is going to be on the college level which makes this even more exciting, since the marching bands probably will actually be good. I've seen a good share of high school marching bands that royally suck. .

Don't know anything about this event but I know some high school bands that would beat or give any college band a run for their money in a competition.

Ed · Post by Ed » Thu May 31, 2012 5:39 am

They are trying to schedule the band festival the same time the River City Roundup is going on. Â They are hoping that the street marching band competition can be part of the River City Roundup parade. Â This could make for a much bigger, better parade. Â I think this band festival would be great, especially if it really is going to be a college band competition instead. Â This could bring in thousands of college students to Omaha that may not know anything about Omaha. Â They might see what a great city it is and possibly think about Omaha as a place to relocate to after graduation. Â There are a lot of people out there that know absolutely nothing about our city except for the zoo, Warren Buffet, Omaha Steaks, and the College World Series.

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:27 am

They are hoping that the street marching band competition can be part of the River City Roundup parade. Â This could make for a much bigger, better parade.

I'm on the committee for the Harvest of Harmony Parade held each year in October in Grand Island. The year that we set the record for the most marching bands in one parade (128 in 1996 and recognized by Guinness) the parade began at 8:45am and ran till about noon, which created havoc for channel 10 out of Lincoln, who broke away from coverage for a college football game at 11, depriving several towns from seeing their kids on TV.

I would imagine that the average college marching band will outnumber the typical Nebraska high school band in musicians by a large scale, so this parade would turn into an unwatchable marathon after so long. Heck, the staging alone for the high school bands takes up several blocks and volunteers and traffic cops to pull off in Grand Island... the busses, the support vehicles, not to mention the regular floats as well... not to mention having virtually all of downtown GI barricaded to through traffic... can't imagine the snarl this would create in Omaha.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:12 pm

I heard that alligators are so ornery cause they got all them teeth but no toothbrush.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:00 am

Linkin5 wrote:I heard that alligators are so ornery cause they got all them teeth but no toothbrush.

that got me about as close as a guy could get to spitting coffee all over the keyboard.