What a day! 17 bands from four states in five classes. Over four hours of well honed, practiced, precision shows without interruption by those pesky football players. Shows covered movie and Broadway themes of Pirates of the Caribbean, Moulin Rouge, and Blast, to musical tributes to the Blues Brothers, Beatles, Motown, Journey, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. There was something for everybody. There were several firsts for the George Wythe Band Festival this year:

• The First appearance by a band from Kentucky :
  Whitesburg High School made trek to be with us on Saturday. That allowed is to boast that our Festival had "bands from four states". Thanks

• The First time for Class 5A bands :
  The big bands from Charlottesville High School and East Burke High School would have made 4A burst at the seams, so the performed in a class of their own. What a way to cap the event.

• The First Air Gram for a band not present at the event ?!!:
  What can I say? We received an Air Gram message for the Holston Cavalier Marching Band, who was ... well ... not present at this event. I know I asked for some originality in the Air grams, but this one was a bit over the top. I read it really loud so they would be sure to hear.

The competition was extremely tight in Class A. Tazewell HS and Fort Chiswell HS split the four competition categories of Music, Marching, General Effect, and Percussion. Total band score is comprised of a combination of these scores. In the end, Tazewell took the class just 0.1 point (out of 100 possible) ahead of the Pioneers followed by Whitesburg (KY) HS and the combined Bland County band from Bland and Rocky Gap High Schools.

Volunteer HS from Church Hill, TN took another close competition in Class 2A. Finishing barely ahead of Christiansburg HS and Patrick Henry HS. Less than three points separated the three bands.

Grayson County HS squeaked out a win in Class 3A just over a point ahead of Chilhowie HS. Carroll County HS and Altavista HS rounded out that class. Grayson County also won the Band of the Day award for the first three Classes finishing just ahead of Chilhowie HS in over all competition.

Sullivan Central HS of Blountville, TN swept all of the captions in Class 4A. They lead another class of stiff competition including Graham HS, Magna Vista HS, and Pulaski County HS. The two big bands duked it out at the end of the competition in Class 5A. East Burke HS of Connelly Springs, NC finished just ahead of Charlottesville HS.

Sullivan Central won Band of the Day for Class 4A and 5A just ahead of Graham HS. The two bands had the highest scores of the entire competition. The Cougars also won the Audience Choice Award as chosen by the fans at the Festival. Thanks to all of the bands for choosing our Festival to share the fruits of your hard work.

Thanks also to the Wytheville Lifesaving Crew for being on hand to take care of the bumps, bruises, sprains, etc. and making the event more enjoyable by making it safer as well. Thanks, too, to Lippo's Music Mart and Fun Time Fotos for stopping by and adding to the Festival atmosphere.

Over the next few weeks we'll be posting a photo page for each band. Each page will include photos from the press box and a link to the Fun Time Fotos site where you will be able to order prints and other gifts of action shots taken from the sidelines.

Did we do something you liked? Did we do something ... else? Please send your comments (good or bad, we can take it) to . We'll use your feedback to make our Festival even better next year.

Once again, thanks for all of your hard work, practicing, missed summer vacations, etc. and Thanks for sharing it all with us today at the

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2004 George Wythe Band Festival Awards

Award	Class A	Class AA	Class AAA	Class AAAA	Class AAAAA
Drum Major - 1st	Fort Chiswell	Christiansburg	Chilhowie	Sullivan Central	Charlottesville
2nd	Tazewell	Volunteer	Carroll County	Magna Vista	East Burke
3rd	Bland County	Patrick Henry	Altavista	Pulaski County
Auxiliaries - 1st	Fort Chiswell	Volunteer	Grayson County	Sullivan Central	East Burke
2nd	Tazewell	Christiansburg	Chilhowie	Graham	Charlottesville
3rd	Whitesburg	Patrick Henry	Altavista	Magna Vista
Soloist	Tazewell	Volunteer	Chilhowie	Sullivan Central	East Burke
Percussion - 1st	Fort Chiswell	Volunteer	Grayson County	Sullivan Central	East Burke
2nd	Whitesburg	Patrick Henry	Chilhowie	Magna Vista	Charlottesville
3rd	Tazewell	Christiansburg	Carroll County	Pulaski County
Best Music - 1st	Tazewell	Christiansburg	Chilhowie	Sullivan Central	East Burke
2nd	Fort Chiswell	Volunteer	Grayson County	Graham	Charlottesville
Best Marching - 1st	Fort Chiswell	Volunteer	Grayson County	Sullivan Central	East Burke
2nd	Tazewell	Patrick Henry	Chilhowie	Magna Vista	Charlottesville
Best G. E. - 1st	Tazewell	Volunteer	Grayson County	Sullivan Central	Charlottesville
2nd	Fort Chiswell	Patrick Henry	Chilhowie	Graham	East Burke
Band Overall - 1st	Tazewell	Volunteer	Grayson County	Sullivan Centrall	East Burke
2nd	Fort Chiswell	Christiansburg	Chilhowie	Graham	Charlottesville
3rd	Whitesburg	Patrick Henry	Carroll County	Magna Vista

Division Awards

Class A Bland County Excellent Tazewell Excellent Whitesburg Excellent Fort Chiswell Excellent

Class AA Christiansburg Superior Volunteer Superior Patrick Henry Superior

Class AAA Altavista Excellent Chilhowie Superior Grayson County Superior Carroll County Superior

Class AAAA Pulaski County Superior Magna Vista Superior Sullivan Central Superior Graham Superior

Class AAAAA East Burke Superior Charlottesville Superior

Overall Awards

Audience Choice Award: Sullivan Central

Band of the Day, Group A, 2A, & 3A: Grayson

Band of the Day, Group 4A & 5A: Sullivan Central

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Y'all Come Back Now !!!

The George Wythe Band Festival is held each year on the second Saturday of October. Mark your calendar now to be with us next year for another incredible show!

Wytheville, Virginia is located in the beautiful mountains of southwestern Virginia at the intersection of Interstate 81 and Interstate 77 North. That makes it an easy drive for bands in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia as well as for area bands in Virginia.

Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charleston, Kingsport, and Charlotte are just a short trip away. The leaves on the trees along the interstates should be nearing "Peak" in the second weekend in October which will make the drive to and from the Festival that much more enjoyable!

Click on the map for more detailed directions

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A growing list of links to area marching band web pages
maintained by the George Wythe Band Boosters.
Check it out and add yours!

Find out more about the George Wythe Mighty Marching Maroon Band	Find your way to the George Wythe Band Festival with Last Updated November 1, 2004 Comments to the Webmaster?