Last Saturday, Sep. 23, 2023, Eaton High School hosted its first marching band competition, the 2023 Friendship Cup. Ascend Performing Arts is an organization that hosts the Friendship Cup Scholastic Marching Band Competition. This event is designed for high school marching band programs of similar size in the Rocky Mountain Region to compete against each other. 

     Typical marching band competitions determine the competing classifications by the size of each school similar to high school sports. However, the Friendship Cup determines each classification by the total number of performers in each band. EHS hosted 16 marching bands, which were broken into three classifications.

     Eaton’s band competed in the class A division, which was categorized as 1-40 performers. Class AA was categorized as 41-70 performers. The last category, class AAA, was for bands of 71-100 performers.

     Preparation for this competition began for EHS several months ago. Marching band director, Benjamin Corneliusen said, “We started preparation for this back in February, when I got an email from Ascend Performing Arts, the organizing group behind this, asking if we wanted to host.” 

     This being the first marching band competition hosted at EHS, it was the first competition for the EHS marching band this year. The band placed first overall in the class AA division. Drum Major Paige Davis (24) said, “I think winning this competition really showed the band that they can accomplish anything they put their minds to. It set more determination and focus for the rest of the season because of how much joy everyone had performing for so many people who love band and music as much as we do.”

     The opportunity to host a marching band competition is truly an honor for a school to have. Opportunities like this allow marching band members to connect with other students from different schools. Davis said, “Being the host school was so much fun and a great experience. All of our band members had a lot of fun directing and meeting new bands.”

EHS hopes to host another marching band competition in the future. Corneliusen said, “It was a really cool experience. I’m hoping to do it again. I think we had 1,650 people in the stands by the end of the night, so for everyone to be out here in Eaton and supporting marching band was really cool. It was a big undertaking, but it was really rewarding.”