Band Festival hits historic note
It was another successful Vikingland Band Festival Sunday as 22 marching bands took to the streets in downtown Alexandria.By: Celeste Beam, Alexandria Echo Press
- Vikingland Band Festival
More...
It was another successful Vikingland Band Festival Sunday as 22 marching bands took to the streets in downtown Alexandria.
Organizers were pleased with this year’s event – the 25th annual band festival – and for the most part, the weather.
“It definitely was windy, but at least it didn’t rain and it wasn’t super hot,” said Coni McKay, executive director of the Alexandria Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, the organization in charge of the band festival.
McKay said the event went well for the 25th year, noting that it couldn’t happen without all the help of the volunteers who put their time and effort into making the Vikingland Band Festival so successful.
“We are really proud of all the volunteers,” she said.
Each year, the band festival brings thousands of spectators to the lakes area and this year was no different. McKay noted that many of the hotels were sold out or close to being sold out.
“Lodging was strong again this year,” McKay said.
She added that it’s hard to put an actual number to the number of spectators, especially this year because the parade was spread out. The bands performed a total of four times during the parade route this year, which is more than normal.
McKay said the marching bands performed at 6th Avenue for the judges, 8th Avenue for the People’s Choice Award, 11th Avenue for the recording of the DVD and one last time, at 14th Avenue, which was right before the parade ended.
Here are the results from the judging:
Class A
The first place winner was the marching band from Kerhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, which received a total prize of $400 and a class champion flag. Other winners in this category were Benson, 2nd place; Bertha-Hewitt, 3rd place; Albany, 4th place; and New York Mills, 5th place.
The caption awards for wind and percussion went to Benson and for color guard, the winner was Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.
Class Two A
The first place winner was Winona Cotter, which received a total prize of $400 and a class champion flag.
Other winners included Montevideo-Yellow Medicine, 2nd place; Henry-Sibley, 3rd place; Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, 4th place; and Foley, 5th place.
The caption award winner for wind and color guard was Winona Cotter and the percussion winner was Montevideo-Yellow Medicine.
Class Three A
The first place winner in this category was Sauk Rapids-Rice, which received a total prize of $400 and a class champion flag.
Other winners were Willmar, 2nd place; 728 Cadets, 3rd place; Fergus Falls, 4th place; and St. Francis, 5th place.
The caption award winner for wind, percussion and color guard was Sauk Rapids-Rice.
Class Four A
The first place winner was Waconia, which received a total prize of $400 and a class champion flag.
The other winners in this category were: Park Center, 2nd place; Mankato 77 Lancers, 3rd place; St. Cloud All-City, 4th place; and Osseo, 5th place.
The caption award for wind was given to Park Center, with color guard going to St. Cloud All-City and percussion going to Waconia.
This year’s People Choice Award was given to Waconia, which also took home the Grand Champion Award.
For more about the Vikingland Band Festival, check out its website at www.VikinglandBandFestival.com.
Tags: vikingland band festival, news, local
More from around the web
RSS Feeds