A Joyful Noise: Town Serenades Champion Brick Memorial Band

The Brick Memorial Marching Mustangs got a noisy ”Welcome Home” Sunday when they returned to Brick after a trip to Hershey, Pa.

The sound wasn’t noise for the sake of noise, however; it represented the joy of victory, after the Marching Mustangs won the Group 3 Open title at the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championships.

The band was greeted by fire engines, police cars and other emergency vehicles sounding their sirens and horns as they returned to Brick Township about 8:30 p.m. Sunday after winning the title, parents said. One filmed the escort; watch it below.

The marching band has been the subject of controversy in what has been an ongoing dispute with a neighbor of the high school over the band’s rehearsals that have resulted in noise waivers from the Township Council and even a meeting with the Ocean County Board of Health after the resident filed a complaint there this fall.

The band has competed in the championships for the last seven years, winning the title in 2008, 2009, 2010. They have been the Atlantic Coast Group III Gold Medal finalists for the last four years. Last year’s trip, which got off to a bad start when a last tune-up that morning was disrupted by the conflict with the neighbor, they came up just a fraction of a point shy of winning the championship.

To reach the Atlantic Coast championships, the Marching Mustangs, Andrew Penrod and drum majors Allyson Comar and Olivia Nunziante, won the Tournament of Bands Group 3 Open New Jersey State Championship on Oct. 24 at Toms River High School North and the Tournament of Bands Group 3 Open Chapter 10 (New York Metropolitan region).

Next Saturday, Nov. 7, they will compete in the U.S. Bands Open Class National Championship at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

(Photo courtesy John Tillman)