Pride of Herndon Continues a Cooperative Tradition with the Showcase of Bands

Members of the Pride of Herndon brass quintet, from left to right: Angela Phelps on Trumpet, Christine Horting on Trumpet, Ronan O’Day on sousaphone, Benjamin Clark on trombone, and Chris Knoll on mellophone perform the National Anthem at the Showcase of Bands. Photo provided.

By Sally Toner

In its 18th year of hosting the Showcase of Bands, the Pride of Herndon Marching Band continued a tradition of student performance and community involvement. Twenty-eight schools and over 3,000 people attended the event on Saturday, September 27th.

“We have such a well-attended show because we have a reputation of taking great care of every single band that comes for the day,” said Director Kathleen Jacoby. “It amazes me how much information is passed on year to year, and I’ve never seen any dropping of the torch.”

Over 280 volunteers, many of them parents of Herndon Middle School and Herndon High School band students, filled the 640 volunteer spots necessary to host the event. Students arrived at 6 a.m. to add their own volunteer hours to the effort.

“What has continued to awe me over the years is that the POH marching band members start working early in the morning, and somehow they still have energy to perform late that night,” said senior Christine Horting, brass section leader for the band. “They maintain positive attitudes throughout the event, which is what matters at the end of the day.” Horting recently attended the Virginia Governor’s school for the Fine Arts, is a featured solo artist, and participates in two smaller performances during the show, “Cantina Band,” and “Ashokan Farewell.”

The Pride of Herndon ended the showcase with an exhibition performance of its halftime show, “The Final Frontier.” The show also features a solo performance from junior piccolo player Whitney Eliason and shared duties from the band’s drum majors, Braden Cuttler, Julia Picchiottino, and Peter Trapp.

First place awards were given out in nine different divisions. Schools involved in the competition included bands from Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties, as well as several ensembles from more distant parts of the state.

“Showcase is great because you get to witness other bands. You get to see old friends. You get to watch great shows and see how other bands do things,” said Horting, acknowledging the camaraderie and opportunities for leadership that come with participation in the event.

Doug Orr, the showcase’s coordinator, praised the coordination of the school and the community. “I think the key to the success of a large show like this is threefold: an engaged band director, a supportive school administration, and an outstanding core group of parent volunteers willing to put in a tremendous amount of time and organization into the event. We are very blessed to have all three.”

Plans for next year’s showcase are already in the works. “We just held a recap meeting to review both our successes and opportunities to enhance the process for future events,” said Orr. “We test piloted a program this year to provide hot box lunches for one participating band this year that was deemed a great success by all, and we are now looking to see how we can expand this effort to include more participating bands next year to further enhance their event experience as well as add to our fundraising bottom line. A big win for all.”