Marching band festival set for Tuesday in Jackson

Jackson will be the Missouri epicenter of high school marching bands today when Jackson High School hosts its 75th annual Marching Band Festival.

“Believe it or not, this is the oldest continuous marching band festival in the State of Missouri and one of the oldest west of the Mississippi,” noted Tom Broussard Jr., director of bands at the Jackson School District, which is hosting the festival.

More than 700 musicians will perform in the event, which will start at 4 p.m. when bands from nine Southeast Missouri high schools parade through uptown Jackson, followed by band performances at 6 p.m. at the Jackson High School football field, where admission will be $3 for adults and $1 for students.

The festival is a “noncompetitive” event, Broussard explained.

“It’s a concert setting for marching bands,” he said.

“It’s a great way for smaller schools to participate,” he added, because, unlike competitive band events, there are no entry fees, judging, ratings or trophies.

In addition to Jackson’s high school marching band, other Missouri marching bands slated to perform are from Kelly High School in Benton, Chaffee High School, Fredericktown High School, Meadow Heights High School in Patton, Oak Ridge High School, Perryville High School, Scott City High School and Woodland High School in Marble Hill. Each band will perform individually and as part of a mass ensemble.

The Redhawks Marching Band from Southeast Missouri State University also will perform.

Coinciding with the Jackson Band Festival will be a similar event in Sikeston, which will feature the Sikeston High School marching band and bands from schools in the Missouri Bootheel. Both festivals are sponsored by Southeast Missouri High School Band Association.

The first band festival was organized in October 1944 by Jackson High School band director LeRoy Mason.

“At that time, there weren’t any other festivals around that featured marching bands,” Broussard said. The festival led to formation of the Southeast Missouri High School Band Association in 1945.

Mason left Jackson High School in 1957 to become the director of what became known as the Golden Eagles Marching Band at Southeast Missouri State University.