VERO BEACH — All football season, marching bands fill halftime while spectators shuffle around for a stretch or a snack, but at the annual Crown Jewel Marching Band Festival the bands are the main event with packed bleachers and a rapt audience.
The Crown Jewel finals, graciously hosted each year by the families and boosters of the Vero Beach High School Fighting Indians band and Director James Sammons, is the bands’ night to shine and shine they did on Saturday. This year’s event carried a distinctly Spanish flavor, with about two-thirds of the bands featuring music with a Latin flair in their programs.
The loyal following of local residents who cart their stadium seats to Billy Livings Field each October and pay $10 per person to see the show were wowed by the creativity, the musicality and the showmanship of the more than 1,000 middle and high school students who performed.
A blended junior high band from three local schools started off the evening’s schedule with the “Star-Spangled Banner” and Vero’s band rounded off the night at nearly 10 p.m. with “Amazing Grace” as a prelude to its exhibition program. Vero, as host band, is not judged or scored in the final competition.
Bands from throughout the region from Lakeland to Boca Raton compete in three ascending divisions (Ruby, Emerald and Diamond) according to the size of the band.
When the drum majors lined up on the sideline, trophies were presented by Vero Beach High School Principal Shawn O’Keefe. Sebastian River High School swept all the categories in the Diamond division and emerged as Grand Champion in its size category.