High school marching bands will be leaving everything on the field Oct. 16 during the Crown Jewel 2021 Marching Band Festival, hosted by the Fighting Indians Marching Band at the Vero Beach High School Citrus Bowl.
Now in its 40th year, the competition is one of the oldest, continuous marching festivals in Florida and attracts high school marching bands from across the state. Bands ranging in size from 40 to more than 150 members strong will compete within their class, ultimately vying for the Sheila Knight Sammons Memorial Award, which recognizes best overall presentation.
College and high school band directors will judge the performances in such categories as percussion, color guard, music, general effect and visual.
Page Howell, VBHS director of bands and festival director, said the competition was founded by the late Gordon Popple, then VBHS assistant principal, and James Sammons, a former band director, who teamed up with the late “visionary and legendary principal,” John Witt.
Popple and Sammons realized that to build a 200-piece band alongside the championship football team that Witt envisioned, they needed to expose VBHS students to the best bands in Florida.
“They thought, ‘Why not have a marching band contest?’” said Howell.
The competition was also the genesis of the Vero Beach Christmas parade, which today is organized by the Oceanside Business Association.
The competition was a two-day affair during its first three years, Howell explained. The event began with a parade contest on Friday, followed by the field show portion on Saturday. When the Crown Jewel competition transitioned to an earlier date, local businesses and community members picked up the reins of Santa’s sleigh.
Last year, for the first time since its inception, the Crown Jewel was canceled due to COVID, said Howell. This year, the competition has been modified in deference to pandemic-related health and safety issues.
“We have to adapt to the life that high school bands are living right now. In some ways, it’s harder right now than it was a year ago,” says Howell, referencing the decision to modify the format from multiple rounds to a single-round competition.
“Competitive marching bands in the United States is huge, right now. A lot of bands use the Crown Jewel as their warmup for their Florida Band Masters Association Marching Band Assessment. They can get some comments, figure out what they need to improve on and get some feedback on how to get better.”
Howell explained that as the host band, the Fighting Indians Marching Band will not compete, but instead will perform an exhibition. The other bands are scheduled to perform in 20-minute intervals.
Describing the performances as a hybrid of sorts, he said, “You take halftime at a football game and an inside band concert, and you put them together.”
“It’s a cool day. You’re watching young people do something productive and good. They learn a lot by doing it. As a high school band director, I teach life, but music and band are the vehicles that I use to teach kids how to be successful in life,” said Howell.
Calling the Crown Jewel one of the premier fall events in Vero Beach, Howell said “it’s a tradition for Vero Beach High School. It gives the kids a sense of pride, and they love seeing the other bands. It’s still serving the purpose that it was intended to, and that’s to expose our band students to really good high school bands.”
The Crown Jewel 2021 Marching Band Festival will be held at the Citrus Bowl on Oct. 16. Gates open at 2:15 p.m., with the competition beginning at 3 p.m. Tickets will be available for purchase at the entrance and online. For more information, visit crownjewelvb.com.
Photos by Kaila Jones
