The 34th Lynchburg Classic marching band competition opened to overcast skies threatening rain Saturday afternoon, but the rain only sprinkled spectators and participants.
Twelve bands from across Virginia competed in the contest, hosted by the E.C. Glass and Heritage High School marching bands, and sponsored by the Lynchburg Music Center.
Neither E.C. Glass nor Heritage participated in the competition, but their bands did give special exhibitions.
The entrants, distributed over four tiers, A, AA, AAA and AAAA, featured eight bands from Lynchburg or its surrounding counties.
The only AAAA band in competition, Jefferson Forest High School, took home the trophy for grand champion of the tournament, along with all of the AAAA awards available.
In addition to Heritage and E.C. Glass’ exhibitions, Liberty University’s marching band, “The Spirit of the Mountain,” Heritage Elementary School’s drum corps, and Sandusky, Dunbar and Linkhonre Middle Schools also gave non-competitive performances.
Jaelyn Bailey, 14, a freshman at Jefferson Forest, said she had never been to the event before, but was impressed by the display.
“I love it,” she said, “it’s amazing.”
The music, the colorguard and the choreography all impressed her, especially since she used to take ballet lessons.
“It’s almost like dancing, it’s so fluid,” she said.
Her favorite band?
“Jefferson Forest,” of course. Part of that may have had to do with the fact that her boyfriend plays trumpet in the band.
“I came to watch him, and everybody says the band’s so good, so I wanted to see them,” Jaelyn said.
Glenn and Mary Logwood had a different prejudice, as their granddaughter participated as a flag bearer in Brookville High School’s band.
“All the schools were great,” she said, “It’s things that I never knew kids could actually do,” said Mary Logwood.
“Brookville did an excellent job,” she said.
Despite rooting for her granddaughter’s school, she said she was also very impressed by Jefferson Forest’s competition performance, as well as E.C. Glass’ exhibition.
The Liberty University band added their own flair to the night, performing their routine “Director’s Cut: Music from the movies,” as the finale.
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