This year marks the 20th annual Pursuit of Excellence Marching Band Festival, where top bands perform and learn

at the same time.

MARSHALL – The 20th annual Pursuit of Excellence Southwest Minnesota Marching Band Festival scheduled for Saturday is expected to provide top-notch entertainment that includes something for every spectator in attendance at the Schwan Regional Event Center at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Hosted and sponsored by Marshall Public Schools, SMSU and the Marshall Music Boosters, the event includes 19 visiting marching bands – comprised of roughly 1,500 students from three states – competing in five different classes, beginning with the Gold Class at 5:30 p.m. Gates open at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s going to be a fun show for everyone, with a lot of variety,” said MHS marching band director Wayne Ivers. “For those people coming to watch, there are a lot of ideas and different concepts with something that will appeal to everyone.”

The Pursuit of Excellence began 20 years ago with a handful of bands and has grown to maximum capacity the past three or four years. Ivers, who was instrumental in making the Pursuit Festival happen, along with assistance from then SMSU band director Dr. Alan Taylor and past SMSU President Dr. Doug Sweetland, takes great pride in its prosperity.

“You always hope that something like this is going to be successful, but you never know,” Ivers said. “We started out with five bands the first year, before SMSU had lights. So it was an afternoon thing. Within three or four years, we had a dozen bands. Then, the last 10 years or so, it’s been at this magnitude. We have a lot of bands and a lot of interest.”

In fact, Ivers has had to turn bands away the past three years because of time constraints. Earlier in the day, marching band members and their directors take part in valuable clinics and then get ready to perform.

“It’s a format that works,” Ivers said. “It’s one of those ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ things. The bands that come really like the format. For most of them, it’s the first competition of the year, so getting the help from the judges at the beginning of the season is priceless.”

In addition to having the opportunity to learn from quality judges brought in from across the country, the bands also benefit from the use of four available clinic and practice sites in Marshall. Along with the Regional Event Center and Marshall Middle School, bands have access to the new Marshall Regional Track and Field Complex as well as the JV football/soccer field at MHS.

“We can put three of the judges at each site, and it gives them more time,” Ivers said. “When you can put bands on the artificial turf with the high venue, it’s pretty nice. Having the extra facility to use is a bonus. Nobody else has that kind of thing at their disposal, so it’s worked out nicely.”

Ivers praised the school district and SMSU for their collaborative efforts, which is this case is an asset for thousands of people.

“It’s a good package deal for bands,” he said. “They like the quality of judges and value the feedback. And the facilities at SMSU have been so great. They’re not just for marching band, but it’s super that we have that opportunity and that those 1,500 kids will benefit. And that’s not counting all the spectators.”

After attending the clinic, bands are invited to utilize the practice areas to work on what they just learned.

“It’s about improving your band and getting better,” Ivers said. “Bands can take the knowledge they gained at the clinic and put it into their performance.”

While the Nebraska band opted to compete locally this year and Rosemount will not be in attendance due to homecoming conflicts, many of the returning bands are well-known in the competition. Two new band, however, include Luverne High School as well as Bishop Heelan High School from Sioux City, Iowa.

“Bishop Heelan is just starting to compete and wanted to go somewhere and get help from other people,” Ivers said. “The director thought the clinic would be important for his band. And Luverne is coming for the first time ever.”

As the evening goes on, the bands will get bigger and louder. Ivers expects the level of competitiveness to be fierce throughout the entire night, though.

“There’s especially going to be good competition in the smaller classes,” Ivers said. “I think it’s going to be close competition in the first two classes and very stiff competition in the Ivory Class, too. It’ll be good for those bands to be very competitive, and it’ll be extremely entertaining for everyone.”

The SMSU Mustang pep band and the MHS marching band will also give exhibition performances, at approximately 8:15 p.m. and 10:40 p.m., respectively. The Tigers will receive feedback and scores but will not be eligible for awards at their home event.

“The kids are working hard and we’re in a pretty good place right now,” Ivers said. “We always have to improve and there is usually stuff to add, though. Our show is a little more theatrical than we’ve done in the past.”

Marshall’s theme this year is “Seasons.” Ivers noted that so far, the show has been well received.

“The idea is to depict the thoughts or memories that come to mind when you mention each season,” Ivers said. “We’ll do a baseball game in the middle of the show, and the color guard does a picnic. We’ll also have four-foot tall snowflakes on the field, and we’ll use umbrellas for the spring portion. They come together to make a flower.”

As he’s done the past few years, John Meehan wrote the original music for the MHS show. Meehan and a percussion-writing friend from Texas will both be sharing their expertise today with the Tiger marching band and with other bands on Saturday.

“John Meehan has written the original music for us for the last three or four years,” Ivers said. “The guy from Texas is a friend of the music arranger, and they collaborate on music together. We’re bringing both of them in to work with bands together this year.”

“Seasons” starts with winter and showcases fall for its finale.

“We’ll have the typical colors for each season, the whites and grays for winter, pink and yellow for spring and golds and browns for the fall,” Ivers said. “I wanted to end with fall because for us, fall is all about marching band.”

FIELD COMPETITION

All classes are determined by the total number of Winds and Percussion. A competing band may request to move up a class but not down. Competition order determined by previous years score. New bands this year compete first in class

Gates open at 4:30

5:25 p.m. – National Anthem

Gold Class 1-52 Winds and Percussion

5:30 p.m. – Bishop Heelan, HS, Sioux City, Iowa, 51

5:45 p.m. – ROCORI HS, Cold Spring, 20

6 p.m. – Harrisburg HS, Harrisburg, S,D, 30

6:15 p.m. – Anoka HS, Anoka, 48

6:30 p.m. – Andover HS, Andover, 43

Crimson Class 53-70 Winds and Percussion

6:45 p.m. – Luverne HS, Luverne, 54

7 p.m. – West Lyon HS, Inwood, Iowa, 56

7:15 p.m. – Huron HS, Huron, S.D., 66

7:30 p.m. – Madison HS, Madison, S.D., 56

7:45 p.m. – Sheldon HS, Sheldon, Iowa, 55

8 p.m. – Hastings HS, Hastings, 62

Exhibition

8:15 p.m. – SMSU Mustang Pep Band

8:30 p.m. – Gold Class and Crimson Class Awards

Navy Class 71-125 Winds and Percussion

8:40 p.m. – Mitchell HS, Mitchell, S.D., 78

8:55 p.m. – Sibley Ocheyedan HS, Sibley, Iowa, 79

Ivory Class 101-150 Winds and Percussion

9:10 p.m. – O’Gorman HS, Sioux Falls, S.D., 110

9:25 p.m. – Central HS, Aberdeen, S.D.,110

9:40 p.m. – Brookings HS, Brookings, S.D., 110

9:55 p.m. – MOC Floyd Valley HS, Orange City, Iowa, 121

10:10 p.m. – Roosevelt HS, Sioux Falls, S.D., 81

Platinum Class 151+ Winds and Percussion

10:25 p.m. – Lincoln HS, Sioux Falls, S.D., 198

Judged Exhibition

10:40 p.m. – Marshall HS, Marshall, 153

10:55 Navy Class, Ivory Class and Platinum Class Awards