The Poplar Bluff High School marching band and its color guard continue winning legacies.
Sho-Me Marching Band students recently racked up multiple first place wins at the Wright City Marching Invitational at Wright City High School, which was held Sept. 24. It is one of four festivals the group will attend this year.
“All the band directors are really proud of the hard work the band has been doing the last few weeks and are looking forward to seeing how the band does in their last two festivals,” Sho-Me Band Director Stephen Winters said.
The Wright City festival featured both indoor and outdoor competitions, Winters said.
The Sho-Me Band placed second in the 5A division during outdoor competitions, and missed first place honors by less than one-half of a scoring point, Winters said.
The school’s color guard placed first in the 5A division while the band’s percussion section placed third. The section missed bringing home gold by less than one point.
In addition, the Sho-Me Band touted the second-greatest score of the day out of 15 high-school marching ensembles.
The color guard grabbed first place in the outdoor events and posted the highest score of the day out of 15 color guards.
“The band has 110 members this year including 31 band seniors,” Winters said. “We are attending four marching festivals. This one was our second festival. Our first festival was Sept. 17 at Francis Howell High School. Although we didn’t win one of the top spots at that festival, the band played really well and scored high enough to participate in the finals competition, which means they were able to march and play their show twice on the same day.”
Winters marked two decades of service at Poplar Bluff R-I schools last year and ascended to principal band director in 2003.
Under his direction, the band and guard developed into the powerhouses they are today. Both receive consistently high marks and awards.
The Sho-Me Band competes again Oct. 8 at the Potosi Bi-State Festival, as well as a final performance at Southwest Missouri, the director said.
“Our last festival will be the Reeds Spring Festival on Oct. 22,” he said.