The goal of Poplar Bluff High School SHO-ME Band Director Stephen Winters is for his group to entertain audiences year after year.
During the 2018 season, the band was able to do just that in addition to adding a number of trophies to their collection.
"This has definitely been one of our most successful seasons to date," Winters said. "At the level we compete at, I thought the kids did a great job all year."
In addition to performing at seven football games this year, the SHO-ME Band competed in four competitions.
"Band competitions are kind of like football games, but instead of one game, it's a bunch," Winters said, which are also classed according to MSHSAA as well.
During the first competition at Wright City, Mo., near St. Louis, the Indoor and Outdoor Drumlines took first place and the Indoor and Outdoor Guards took second out of 18 other bands.
"The color guard missed first place by half a point," Winters said.
The next contest took the SHO-ME Band near Springfield, Mo., to the Parkview Valhalla to compete against 27 other bands.
The SHO-ME Band scored high enough to make the finals, which is what Winters wants to see each competition. During the finals, the top 10 bands play once again.
As the band took the field, Winters said the sky opened up and the rain poured down.
"The rain just dumped down on us and we had all our electrical equipment on the field," he said. "Kids ran off the field and loaded the bus."
Winters described the area where the festival was held as being in a hole where water gathered nearly six inches deep during the storm.
Because of the weather, the bands were scored on prelims alone, giving the SHO-ME Band third place in Class D and sixth place in the finals competition.
The SEMO Festival in Sikeston, Mo., was the next stop for the SHO-ME Band.
Out of 19 other bands, the Outdoor Drumline took first place as well as first place in Class 5 and a Visual Caption trophy.
"That was probably the first first place trophy in a long time," Winters said. "We were pretty excited about it."
The Park Hills Rebel Invitational rounded out the SHO-ME Band's season, competing against 20 other groups.
The band was awarded with third place in Class 5 and 6 and sixth place in the finals competition.
Winters explained the SHO-ME Band competes against bands of all sizes from all over the area during finals. Many of those bands are so large, students are selected who will compete on field in competitions.
"It's tough to get to that level," Winters said when competing in finals.
The color guard was able to capture a first place trophy at the Park Hills Invitational after just missing it by a half a point several times during the season.
"When the color guard got first that was pretty exciting," Winters said. "They did really well all year."
This year, the SHO-ME Band had 115 members with over 40 freshman on the field. According to Winters, that is the largest number of younger students he has had on the field since joining the school district in 2002.
He praised the high level of marching talent from his younger students and looks forward to the years to come.
This year, nearly 20 SHO-ME Band seniors will graduate. Their spots in addition to more will hopefully be filled by the large junior high classes coming up through the ranks.
The Poplar Bluff SHO-ME Band has one of the largest "pits" for a band of its size, Winters said. A pit is made up of the mallet instruments such as marimba, vibraphone, bells and xylophone.
During competitions, the group would see larger bands with pits half the size of the SHO-ME Bands.
For the future, Winters believes a town the size of Poplar Bluff could support a band with 175 members.
"We have a lot of room to grow," Winters said. "The sky is the limit in my opinion."
A major highlight this year for Winters was the continuous compliments the SHO-ME Band received from members of other bands and towns.
"People were constantly telling me we were their favorite show of the day and they actually remembered us and liked our performance," he said.
Winters also added the SHO-ME Band's Facebook page was filled with compliments following each competition praising the class of the Poplar Bluff students while always cheering on other bands.
"In my opinion, the best takeaway of the whole season is to have a band that shows class and can be entertaining," Winters said.