Saturday, September 24 presents us with the second weekend of Scholastic competition in Michigan. The three contests that are being held at Kenowa Hills, Trenton, and Otsego. In total, 47 band programs will be performing in Scholastic competition this weekend. Kenowa Hills starts at 9:00am, Otsego at 1:30pm, and Trenton at 2:00pm.
Kenowa Hills
The Kenowa Hills Knight Time Classic starts at 9:00am, with Kelloggsville kicking off competition in Class D at 9:15a.m. New to Kenowa Hills’ competition this year includes all of Class B (Coopersville, Comstock Park, Gull Lake, and Fruitport), Morenci (D), and Lakeshore (A). Comstock Park, Fruitport, and Lakeshore join us from MCBA, which will most likely cause the level of competition in Class B and A to be higher than one might expect. For a full schedule, please follow this link. Kenowa Hills High School is located at 3825 Hendershot Avenue in Grand Rapids.
Trenton
Trenton plays host to the Trenton Scholastic Invitational, which begins this Saturday at 2:00pm. We encourage spectators to arrive early to enjoy the Boyd Arthurs Middle School band perform the National Anthem – an honor that every Middle School program deserves. 15 bands are performing in competition at Trenton, with Class B, C, and AA occurring early in the afternoon. Awards for these classes are at 4:00pm, with Class A starting at 4:45pm. As is to be expected early season, several MCBA programs will be competing in Scholastic competition; Southgate Anderson, Crestwood, and Redford Thurston will all be competing in Class A. For those who are attending to support the Class A band programs, please bear in mind that Award breaks also mean a large shift in visitors; you may find stands and parking lots between 4-4:45 congested. Janet’s School of Dance‘s Twirlers performs in special exhibition at 6:45, right before Class A awards. Trenton is located at 2601 Charlton Street in Trenton. A full schedule can be found here.
Otsego
Competition at Otsego begins at 1:45 with Martin in Class D. Otsego’s competition is smaller than last years, but this year we new arrivals in Lakewood, Fennville, Olivet, and Portage Northern. Portage Northern (Class A) joins Scholastic this year after having competed in MCBA for many years; PNHS is shifting their marching band from extra curricular to co-curricular this season and we hope it will prove to be a new and successful approach to their competitive program. Typically, this particular Saturday leads to having band programs participate in a “double header” and attend both Kenowa Hills and Otsego. Interestingly enough, only Gull Lake is participating in both competitions this year. MCBA programs Allegan and Grandville will be at Otsego; Allegan in Class B, and Grandville alone in Class AA. Otsego is located at 400 Sherwood Street in Otsego. A full schedule is available here.
If you’ve read through these previews, you may be wondering why the mention of the MCBA programs. Band programs that compete in MCBA are often working towards a performance at State Finals, which are occurring on November 5 this year. Because of this, most MCBA programs have 3-4 more weeks of competition than a Scholastic program. Often this turns into the first week or two of the competitive season resulting in an incomplete show. We are providing this information so that spectators may go into a competition prepared to encounter an instance when a program with an incomplete show scores higher than you might expect them to.