(Story and photos by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Beaver Falls, PA)  The 43rd Annual Beaver County Invitational Marching Band Festival got underway at 6:30pm Saturday evening with a full house in attendance at Reeves Stadium. Host band, the New Brighton Marching Lion Pride, took to the field to kick things off with the opening ceremonies before the performances of 13 local marching bands. The first band to perform their 2021 show was the Riverside Panther Marching Band under the direction of David Withrow and assistant director Levi Plassmeyer. The 50 piece band had a theme of America for this year’s show, paying tribute to the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with selections such as “Veterans Salute”, and “America the Beautiful”. The Beaver Falls Marching Tiger Band followed with a performance of a variety of songs such as the “Pink Panther” theme and “All Star” by Smash Mouth under the direction of Robbie Goode and assistant directors Morgan Rockwell, and Tiffany Vasilakis. Rochester Area Marching Rams were the next to showcase their work with director Kaleb Kibble. The Marching Rams played 80s classics including “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi, and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Up next was the Hopewell High School Viking Pride Marching Band, the largest student organization within the school district, who performed a selection of video game theme songs like “Mii Channel” and “Tetris”. They closed their performance with the fitting “Pinball Wizard” by The Who. The Viking Pride band was under the direction of Kit Keiper, and assistant directors Jenn Sutton and Kelsey Steele.  The Lincoln High School Marching Blue Band followed Hopewell with a high stepping Foo Fighters show. The band played hits including “Monkey Wrench” and “Learn to Fly” before leaving the field with their classic “Blue Band Funk”. The band was under the direction of D. Lee Caldwell, Jr. and assistant director Justin Miller.  The 30 piece South Side High School Marching Band proceeded to step under the lights performing hits like “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC. The South Side Marching Band was under the direction of Matt Diehl and assistant director Josh Adams. The Blackhawk Marching Band was next, with director Brandon Tambellini and assistant director Mikaela Kalmar. Blackhawk decided to “funk” things up, performing selections such as “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and “Brick House” by the Commodores. With a show centered on the music of Queen, the Freedom Big Red Marching Band followed and performed songs like “Under Pressure” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The 50 piece Big Red Marching Band was under the direction of Emily Rickard and Ashley Barnes. The largest band of the night, the Central Valley Warrior Marching Band, came to rock the stadium with a show titled “Rock on”. The band performed rock classics such as “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne and “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynryd. The Warrior Marching Band was under the direction of Wendy H. Lewis and assistant directors Tori Petrella and Craig Whipkey. The Beaver Area High School Marching Band took the field next, with a show named “Dance the Night Away”. The band played songs such as “Dancing Queen” by ABBA and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston.  The Beaver Marching Band was under direction of J. P. Scanga and assistant directors Phil Cypher, Steve Maker, and Joey Caponera.  The Western Beaver Golden Beaver Marching Band, under direction of Andrea Hart, along with assistant director Tori Franconi, followed with a show called “That 80s Sound”.  The Golden Beaver Band played songs such as “Blinding Lights” by the Weekend, and “99 Red Balloons” by Nena.  The final high school band of the night, the host New Brighton Marching Lion Pride, took to the field for their second time to perform their movie themed show. The 58 peice band, under the direction of Jamie Beilstein and assistant director Jeff Frankenstein, performed powerful selections such as the “Star Wars” main theme and “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins from “Top Gun”. To wrap things up, the Geneva College Golden Tornado Marching Band put on a grand finale with selections such as a “Daft Punk Medley” and “American Landscapes”.  Overall the festival continued to be a great musical showcase of local high school marching bands, giving them a night to perform to people who were strictly there to see and listen to them. Music education in Beaver County proves to be strong as all of the bands sounded great. They all performed strong and executed creative drill.  New Brighton has hosted the festival since its inception in 1978.

Two county bands that were missing from the festival include Ambridge and Aliquippa. Aliquippa is reported to not have had enough band members this year, with alumni and community members stepping in to perform at football games.

Check out photos of the bands below!