A fresh look for Glenwood’s Marching Rams

    Members of the Glenwood Community High School Marching Band are ready to show off their new threads.
    When the Marching Rams take the field at the first home football game of the season on Friday, Sept. 2, they’ll be donning new uniforms for the first time in nearly two decades.
    The new old gold and black uniforms, 150 of them, were delivered to the high school earlier this summer.  Band members have been getting sized and fitted over the past two weeks during breaks from band camp. GCHS Director of Bands Dave Clark said both he and his students are pleased with the look of the new uniforms.
    “I think they’re pretty sleek,” Clark said. “They’re kind of a mix between drum corps and a traditional band uniform.”
    Glenwood Band Parents president Lori LaViolette said the purchase of the uniforms is a culmination of several years of fundraising by students and parents. The uniforms, designed and created by a firm in Wichita, Kan., came at a cost of about $55,000. LaViollete noted the polyester-wool “bibber” style uniforms will provide the band the option of performing with or without a jacket.
    LaViolette said the selection of the new uniform was made during a Band Parents meeting last year. With over 1,000 uniform styles to consider initially, the number of options was narrowed down to six.
    Clark said the expected lifespan of a marching band uniform is 10-12 years. The uniforms being replaced made it through 19 marching seasons.
    The Band Parents will be selling the retired uniforms for $25 as a fundraiser. LaViolette said the goal is 712-310-8403 or send an e-mail to glenwoodbandparents@gmail.com.

The new marching band uniforms aren’t the only source of excitement in the GCHS instrumental music room these days.

Thirty-three Glenwood students have been selected for the Southwest Iowa Honor Band, which will be traveling to San Diego later this year to perform at the Holiday Bowl. Four Glenwood students are section leaders in the band.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Clark said. “About a third or fourth of our band are honor band kids.”

The 193-member Southwest Iowa Honor Band, represented this year by students from 29 high schools, travels to a major bowl game every other year. Formed in 1984, the band’s previous destinations have included the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl and Outback Bowl.

The trip to the bowl game is expensive and Glenwood participants have been raising money for months to offset their expenses. They’ve sold frozen food items, Casey’s pizza and donut cards and teamed up this summer with the Glenwood Optimist Club on the sale of sweet corn. There’s even been a “traveling toilet” fundraiser. This fall, honor band members will have a pancake breakfast and be selling Christmas poinsettias.

The Southwest Iowa Honor Band performed last week in Des Moines for the Iowa State Fair Parade.