Thirty high schools to participate in KU Band Day
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Music will stage the 67th Annual KU Band Day on Saturday, Sept. 20. Thirty high school bands from Kansas and Missouri will participate in the event.
For the halftime show, the KU bands will join the visiting high school bands to perform songs including “I’m a Jayhawk,” “Stand Up and Cheer,” “Kansas Song,” “Fighting Jayhawk” and “Patriotic Finale,” composed by Robert Foster, former director of bands at KU.
The halftime performance will be conducted by Paul Popiel, director of bands; Matthew O. Smith, associate director of bands and director of the Marching Jayhawks, and Sharon Toulouse, assistant director of bands. The performance also will feature guest conductors and former KU band directors Foster and Thomas Stidham.
The traditional KU Band Day Parade, with all participating bands and the KU Marching Jayhawks, will begin at 9 a.m. on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence. The KU vs. Central Michigan University football game will follow with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff time.
In a partnership with Kansas Athletics, the School of Music is sponsoring a special ticket package for all friends and family of participating bands and the School of Music. Friends and family can visit kutickets.com and enter the promo code BANDFAMILY for a $15 ticket.
As of press time, school bands from the following high schools in Kansas and Missouri plan to participate:
Atchison
Atchison County Community High School
Bourbon
Fort Scott High School
Cherokee
Columbus High School
Crawford
Girard High School
Dickinson
Chapman High School
Douglas County
Baldwin High School
Free State High School
Lawrence High School
Franklin
Ottawa High School
Jefferson
Jefferson West High School
McLouth High School
Perry-Lecompton High School
Johnson
Blue Valley North High School
Kingman
Kingman High School
Norwich High School
Labette
Labette County High School
Parsons High School
Marion
Marion High School
Miami
Osawatomie High School
Paola High School
Nemaha
Nemaha Central High School
Neosho
Chanute High School Band
Pottawatomie
Rock Creek High School
Reno
Pretty Prairie High School
Shawnee
Hayden Catholic High School
Shawnee Heights High School
Topeka High School
Wilson
Neodesha High School
Wyandotte
Washington High School
Wyandotte High School
Missouri
Jackson County, Missouri
Ruskin High School.