Despite heavy rain in the late afternoon, the 9^th Annual Mile High Marching Festival took place Saturday afternoon.  Twelve bands from High Schools all over Arizona and as far away as New Mexico presented their best programs to an appreciative audience.  The festival (the first of the season) was organized ably by the Pride of Prescott Marching Band and their boosters. 

Unfortunately, due to the rain, the first group of bands, from division  III had to present their programs in the gymnasium, which everyone agreed was pretty loud and full of echo.  But the bands didn’t let it phase them, performing all types of music from Billy Joel’s Piano Man to music from Cirque do Soleil’s La Nouba.  Of course they were unable to march, which made the programs seem incomplete.  Bands in this first group were from Page, Blue Ridge, Payson, Sunnyslope, Peoria and Bradshaw Mountain.

The second group of bands, from divisions II and I, did get to perform outside, but the wet field also prevented them from marching.  They had to set up their members on the track in concert formation.  The weather was a little chilly and raw, but the stands were well filled with band enthusiasts.

Several of these bands performed selections from movies, with accompanying dances by their Honor Guards (dance teams.)  Others, like the crowd favorites Cleveland H. S., performed original music.  Prescott’s performance combined music from several sources.

Because they had performed the pre-game show at Friday night’s PHS football game, the Cleveland band’s full performance had been seen by many spectators.  All were impressed by their precision marching and great sound. It’s really hard to make the sound project properly while marching around on a field, but they have solved the problem very well. They came all the way from central New Mexico, and the band has only been performing for three years.  In another year or two they should be a force to be reckoned with.

Because they were not able to march, not all aspects of their planned programs could be evaluated, but they were still graded on their overall performance and assigned award levels of  good, excellent, or superior.  So called “Special Caption” awards were also given to the top two bands in each division for each of four areas, Auxiliary, Presentation, General Effect, and Music Performance. 

Overall ratings of the bands were:

GOOD

            Page

            Blue Ridge

            Sunnyslope

            Bradshaw Mountain

            Saguaro

            Kingman

EXCELLENT

            Payson

            Peoria

            Fountain Hills

            Cleveland

            Prescott

SUPERIOR

            Mountain Ridge

Special Caption

                        Division III                   Division II                     Division I

Auxiliary           Page                             Fountain Hills                Mountain Ridge

                        Peoria                          Kingman                       Prescott

Percussion        Page                             Fountain Hills                Mountain Ridge

                        Peoria                          Kingman                       Prescott

General Effect

                        Payson                         Fountain Hills                Cleveland

                        Peoria                          Kingman                       Mountain Ridge

Music Performance

                        Payson                         Saguaro                        Cleveland

                        Peoria                          Fountain Hills                Mountain Ridge

Photo Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to see a larger photo.