ON PARADE IN JACKSON; BANDS PLAY ON IN FESTIVAL

JACKSON -- Steven Messmer already knows that he wants to play drums in the school band. But he will have to wait a few years before he is eligible.

Messmer and his first-grade classmates watched from the curbside as more than 20 area marching bands paraded through the streets of downtown Jackson Tuesday during the 52nd annual Jackson Band Festival.

Jackson High School hosted the annual event Tuesday afternoon. It began with a 10-block parade and concluded with a mass marching show at the high school stadium. About 20 school bands from the area attended.

The non-competitive event began in 1944, and is the largest marching band gathering in the area.

Four other similar events are held in Southeast Missouri during the first two weeks of October. The band festivals are sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Band Association.

Nick Leist, band director at Jackson High School, plans the event by charting the mass marching show for the evening festival.

"I'm one of the last dinosaurs," he said. "I still do my own. We don't do competitions so it doesn't have to be as exacting."

Leist charts the movements for each musical section and student in the Jackson High School band. Other districts use a consultant to plan their routines.

The festival's marching routine is sent to the schools that participate in the festival prior to the event.

This year the mass performance will honor the 175th anniversary of Missouri's statehood. Songs include the "Missouri Waltz," "Symbol of Honor," and "On the Street," a marching tune.

In addition to the mass marching performance, each school is given an opportunity to perform its own half-time show before the crowd in the stadium.

The 14 members of the Marching Bobcats at Delta High School were the smallest band participating in the festival. But the size of the other bands didn't intimidate them.

"You can learn a lot from watching people," said Steve Rich, director. "It's a good experience and we get to perform.

Delta High School doesn't have a football team, so the marching band has few opportunities to perform in public, like other bands. But planning marching drills also is difficult since the students practice in an empty field behind the school.

The school band worked through the routine on the football field at Jackson before the festival began, Rich said.

PARTICIPATING BANDS

Area bands in the Jackson Marching Band Festival Tuesday:

-- Jackson High School and Freshman bands

-- Sikeston High School and Freshman bands

-- Cape Girardeau Central High School and Freshman bands

-- Woodland High School

-- Greenville High School

-- East Prairie High School

-- Oran High School

-- Chaffee High School

-- Delta High School

-- Scott County Central High School

-- Puxico High School

-- Scott City High School

-- Oak Ridge High School

-- Advance High School

-- Kelly High School

-- Charleston High School

-- Meadow Heights High School