Local marching bands shine at StarFest

Gehlen Catholic Schools' Marching Jays placed first in Class 1A, at the competition Sept. 27 in the Olsen Stadium.

Gehlen's marching show, "A Tribute to Stevie Wonder," earned them the top place of three bands in their class.

The show is a medley of four pieces: "Superstition" with an introduction of "Living in the City," "Don't you worry 'bout a thing," "Sir Duke" and "Sign, sealed, delivered, I'm Yours."

"Sir Duke" features both the tenor saxes play and mallet percussion.

"We're having a good time with it," said director Paul Niebuhr of the Stevie Wonder show.

"People seem to enjoy it. I was real surprised at the crowd response Saturday," he added. "It wasn't just our folks, everybody seemed to like it."

The band's performance was strong, Niebuhr said.

"Marching-wise it was exactly what they needed to do, and musically we did a number of things we'd been working on," he said.

The Gehlen competition band includes 40 students, both high school and selected seventh and eighth graders.

Le Mars Community Schools' Big Red Band placed second in Class 3A, performing a show dubbed the "Civil War Suite."

The reminiscent performance includes songs like "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" and "The Glory," according to director Curt Ohrlund.

"The band performed well," he said Monday. "I was very pleased with their performance."

The second piece they performed included three featured musicians: students Jeff Kelly on snare drum, Kim Ohrlund and Catie Meis on trumpet duet.

The LCHS Big Red Marching Band includes 128 members.

Both bands will compete at the State Marching Band Contest in Cherokee on the morning of Oct. 11 and at the Dutchmen Field Championship in Orange City that evening.