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More than 20 marching bands will do musical battle Saturday at Lake Park

Posted September 10, 2009 11:00 pm

By Elisabeth Mistretta

Joust organizers are hoping for good weather Saturday after heavy rains washed out last year's competition and left Lake Park marching band members scrambling to raise money to support their group. Daily Herald file photo

After severe storms and flooding forced its cancellation last year, the annual Joust Marching Band Competition returns Saturday to Lake Park High School's West Campus.

The musical showdown attracts groups from throughout the Midwest and is a major fundraiser for the Lake Park Lancers marching band.

After the event was called off in 2008, the Lancers had last-minute fundraisers and budgeted carefully to pay for the costs of transporting, housing and feeding the 160-member band and its staff throughout the season.

Lake Park Director Mike Chiodo said that means a lot is riding on the success of Saturday's Joust.

"We sitting here hoping it doesn't rain, but we could deal with a little rain after last year," Chiodo said. "So we are hoping for the best."

Money isn't the only reason the Lancers and their auxiliary group, which runs the show, hope for a great turnout. The Joust, Chiodo said, is also one of the first competitions in the state for the 2009-10 band season and gives students important feedback and practice for future competitions.

"We hire judges that are nationally recognized and give students a good read of their performance," Chiodo said.

More than 20 bands are coming from Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois and are set to perform in preliminary competition on Saturday afternoon. Lake Park will be the last band to perform during preliminaries, but only as an exhibition band.

A finals competition featuring the top 10 bands that progress out of preliminaries will begin at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to performing at the Joust and other local competitions, the 2009 Lancers are scheduled to compete in the Illinois State Competition at Illinois State University, as well as in the Bands of America Regional and Grand National Championships, which will be at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.

Who's performing

Here are the bands performing at this year's Joust:

• Hobart, Ind.

• Geneseo

• Oak Park River Forest

• Elk Grove

• A.A. Stagg

• Wheaton North

• Plainfield North

• Glenbrook North

• Xavier, Iowa

• Naperville North

• Lockport

• Downers Grove South

• Victor J. Andrew

• Huntley

• Lincoln-Way East

• Morton

• Prospect

• Hersey

• Waukesha North, Wis.

• Waubonsie Valley

• Lemont

• Wheeling

• Lake Park

Bands from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana are slated to perform as part of Saturday's Joust. Daily Herald file photo

More than 20 bands from throughout the Midwest will travel Saturday to Lake Park High School's West Campus in Roselle to do musical battle in the annual Joust Marching Band Competition. All of the groups will perform Saturday. Daily Herald file photo

Lancer Joust Marching Band Competition Who: Features more than 20 bands from across the Midwest; sponsored by Lake Park High School Band Auxiliary When: Preliminaries begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday; finals at 7:30 p.m. Where: Lake Park West Campus, 500 W. Bryn Mawr, Roselle Cost: $10 for adults; $7 students and seniors; $25 families with a maximum of two adults and four children Info: (630) 235-7248 or <a href="http://lancerjoust@sbcglobal.net" target="new">lancerjoust@sbcglobal.net</a>

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