Marching contest Saturday a little different this year

TEXARKANA, Texas -Texas High School's Tiger Stadium at Grim Park will host the Four States Invitational Marching Contest on Saturday.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only a limited number of band fans will be able to attend with each band. However, everyone will have the opportunity to see the contest as it will be live streamed at tigervision.org online.

The events starts at 10:30 a.m. and concludes at 5 p.m.

Arnie Lawson, director of music at Texarkana Independent School District and event coordinator for this event, said the lower number of fans will make the atmosphere quite different than usual, as there will be no tickets sold at the door, fans in the stands will social distance and use a one-way entrance and one-way exit.

"We're not allowing fans to come and stay all day long, which is what we would normally do," Lawson said. "The stands would normally be jam-packed. There'd be over 5,000 people there. We're going to encourage each school to bring their fans, family and friends to come see their band and exit the stadium."

Lawson did say one silver-lining is that with the spaced-out seating and small crowds, those who are present will have the best seats in the house.

"Just like at sporting events, or anything where you're competitive, you're feeding off the energy of the group," he said. "But it's still going to be exciting. You're still going to be on edge if anybody is watching, so there's still going to be that energy. It's just going to be different."

Judges for this year's contest are Benny Davis, retired band director for Desoto High School, Waxahachie High School and Rockwall Heath High School all in Teas; Jim Lloyd, instructor of music and athletic band director at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas; and Mark Minton, band director of Parkway High School in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Percussion judge will be: Mike Britt, director of percussion for Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas. Color guards will be judged by Alexandra Schoeffel, former member of Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Performance schedule is as follows:

10:30 a.m. Texas High School

11:00 a.m. Redwater High School

11:20 a.m. Maud High School

11:40 a.m. Simms High School

Noon Linden-Kildare High School

12:20 p.m. DeKalb High School

12:40 p.m. Ashdown High School

1:00 1:20 p.m. BREAK

1:20 p.m. Hooks High School

1:40 p.m. New Boston High School

2:00 p.m. Harleton High School

2:20 p.m. Queen City High School

2:40 p.m. New Diana High School

3:00 p.m. Winnsboro High School

3:20 p.m. Pleasant Grove High School

3:40 p.m. De Queen High School

4:00 p.m. Arkadelphia High School

4:20 p.m. Lake Hamilton High School

4:40 p.m. Texas High School

"If the weather cooperates, it should be great for everybody to finally get started with your competitive performing part of the year," Lawson said. "I think it's going to be a very good thing for everybody."

Upcoming Events