Weather shines on annual Joust band competition

After last year's disappointing rainout, one thing that organizers of the annual Joust Marching Band Competition were praying for this year was good weather.

They got it.

Roughly two dozen high-school bands from Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin performed Saturday under blue skies and sunshine at Roselle's Lake Park High School.

"It's been just a tremendous day so far," said Jim Wronski, coordinator of the event. "The bands have been great. The weather's been great. There are so many good kids out there."

The Joust, now in its 31st year, is not only the biggest fundraising event of the year for the Lake Park Lancers marching band, but also one of the first big regional competitions of the band season.

Last year's event had to be canceled due to severe storms and flooding.

"It's a big deal because it generates about half our season budget," Wronski said. "Plus, this is the event where bands from all over get to see how they stack up."

Most of the bands hail from the Northwest or West suburbs; Wheaton North, Elk Grove, Wheeling and Naperville North were among the suburban high schools competing. But schools from as far away as Waukesha, Wis., and Hobart, Ind., also made the trip.

Josh Baade, a junior at Downers Grove South High School, said he was happy with his school's showing in the preliminary competition Saturday afternoon.

"I think it went well. We definitely have a shot at making the finals," said Baade, a trumpet player. "This event's big because if we do well, it kind of lifts the band's standing going into the rest of the year."

The preliminaries lasted all afternoon. After a two-hour break, the top 10 scorers from the preliminaries compete in the finals. The grand champion was named late Saturday; results are available at lancerjoust.com.