Fair Lawn Marching Band & Color Guard Competing For National Tile on Saturday in Maryland

The Marching Band & Color Guard will compete for the United States National Marching Band Championship on Saturday, Nov. 6 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. It is the squad's fifth trip to the National Championships in five years.

The nationally-ranked Cutters are just one of 37 bands in America to perform at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium on Saturday. The ensemble is scheduled to perform at 1:16 p.m. in Group IV Open, the most competitive class in the country.

"It's an honor to be invited back to perform at Nationals and continue to be recognized as one of the top programs on the circuit," said Paul Kafer, director of bands at Fair Lawn High School. "These kids have worked very hard to maintain the tradition set by each marching band and color guard before them. We're proud to represent the high school, the borough of Fair Lawn and Bergen County at the Naval Academy this weekend." 

The United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) is the largest scholastic band association in America and groups schools based on the enrollment of their band. In all, 100 schools will compete at Annapolis over three days in six different categories. In the five year history of the National Championships, Fair Lawn is the only Bergen County high school to have competed.

The Cutters have finished among the top 13 bands in the country for nine consecutive years. Fair Lawn finished third at the first-ever National Championships in 2006, which were also held at Annapolis. In addition to their overall Bronze medal, Percussion claimed its third national title and the Color Guard finished fourth. 

The 91-member ensemble's 2010 show, Beyond the Periphery, won two of three regular season competitions including a on Oct. 10. Their score of 90.750 at the was the third highest in Group IV and the 10th highest out of 160 schools that competed for state championships across the country on Oct. 24. They followed that performance by posting their highest score of the season, 93.275, at the Northern States Championships on Oct. 30.

The program's tradition of excellence and successful run began with a second-place finish in 2001. The Cutters won the USSBA Group IIA All-States championship in 2002 and moved up to Open Class, which is comprised of schools that have won championships. Fair Lawn enjoyed continued success in Group III in 2003 and moved up to Group IV in 2004, where Percussion earned the first of three straight national titles. The USSBA is the largest scholastic band association in America and groups schools based on the enrollment of their band.

In the midst of this run, it was at the All-States Championships in Giants Stadium on Nov. 5, 2005 that Fair Lawn established itself on the national stage. The band finished third with a school record score of 97.28 out of a possible 100 points, winning for Best Music and Best Effect in the closest scored championship in history. It was the third-highest score out of 189 bands in the country that day, earning Fair Lawn an invitation to the new U.S. National Marching Band Championships.

"For us it has always been and will always be about the performance," added Kafer, who is in his 14th year heading the program. "It's providing these artists with the opportunity to perform at the highest level and be at their best for those eight minutes they're on the field. That's what makes champions."