As the crowd erupted in cheers, the band lowered their instruments after releasing their final note. On Tuesday, Oct. 7, The Westwood Warrior Marching band participated in the 25th annual Festival of Bands at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex (KRAC). With performances from five district high schools and 11 district middle schools, the band community was brought together for a showcase of competitive marching shows and more.

“I think Festival of Bands is so important because it’s a great opportunity for middle schoolers and so it can just make them feel better about joining band in the future,” Julia Gray ‘28 said. “And it can help grow our band program.”

The Festival of Bands not only brought more than 4,000 members of the community together, it gave middle school band members a taste of what competitive marching band in high school was like. 

“It wasn’t our best performance because of some timing issues at the start, but now we know what to work on to be better and more prepared for our competition on Saturday,” Noah Revelett ‘26 said.

The band’s next performance is at the Texas Marching Classic (TMC) competition on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 3:00 p.m.