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Published Wednesday, November 04, 2009 in Local

Photo by Bob Fraley

The East Coweta High School Band, shown during a recent performance, will compete at Old South Saturday among the Class AAAA bands. It’s scheduled to take the field at 6:30 p.m. at Drake Stadium.

30th anniversary band festival Saturday at NHS

By News Staff

The Newnan Times-Herald

The Old South Marching Festival is getting older.

The prestigious competition -- held annually at Newnan High School -- is marking a milestone this year with its 30th anniversary festival. The event "is held each year at Drake Stadium at Newnan High School," said June Werner, the NHS music department secretary.

Werner has been a part of the festivities from the start. She has lots of memories of helping with the first Old South -- working with "a great group of parents."

Werner reflected, "I can't believe it has been 30 years."

Old South is sponsored by the Newnan High School Band Boosters and the Newnan High School music staff. This year's event will be held Saturday.

Bands will be performing all day beginning at 12:45 p.m. through the last performance, an exhibition by the Newnan High School Band at 7:45 p.m.

Awards will be presented at 8:20 p.m.

Bands will compete in division categories based on instrumentation size. The smaller Class A and AA will begin the contest at 12:45 p.m. and finish with a break at 2:15 p.m.

Class AAA bands will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will finish at 3:30 p.m. with a dinner break until 4:50 p.m.

Then the Class AAAA and Class AAAAA bands will begin. The competition will end with the last AAAAA Class band going on the field at 7:30 p.m.

East Coweta High School's Marching Indians will travel across the county to take part in the Old South Marching Festival. East Coweta, under the direction of Robert Owens, is scheduled to perform at 6:30 p.m. in the Class AAAA group.

The day-long contest will be followed by the exhibition performance of the Newnan High School Marching Cats -- presenting "Things That Go Pop!" -- at 7:45 with the awards presentation following.

After each performance, a band receives a rating of Superior, I; Excellent, II; Good, III; or Fair, IV. Scores are determined based on marching abilities, musical performance, and execution. Judges will award Best in Class trophies for the highest scoring band and highest scoring auxiliary unit in each band.

There will be a Grand Champion Trophy presented to the band with the highest combined score achieved in the competition.

Local citizens have enjoyed and supported Old South from the start. "There will be food all day and souvenirs for sale, with proceeds benefiting the Newnan High School Marching Band," Werner said.

Admission will be $7 per person, and programs will sell for $3.

Newnan High's band has had a busy and productive fall. The NHS March Cats were named Grand Champions at the Valhalla Marching Classic at Northgate High School on Sept. 26.

On Oct. 24, the Marching Cats were named Grand Champions at the Bandmasters Marching Competition in Cumming. At the Warrior Invitational Marching Contest in Calhoun -- on Oct. 10 -- the NHS band came in second place overall -- with the drum majors and percussion placing first overall.

The NHS percussion won first place overall at all three of the contests, and the colorguard placed first at the Valhalla and the Bandmasters contest. The NHS drum majors took first place at the Warrior Invitational.

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The schedule for performances is:

Class A bands

* Whitfield Academy, Mableton, 12:45 p.m.

* Washington-Wilkes High School, Washington, 1 p.m.

* Pike County High School, Zebulon, 1:15 p.m.

Class AA

* Harris County High School, Hamilton, 1:30 p.m.

* Upson-Lee High School, Thomaston, 1:45 p.m.

* Rockdale High School, Conyers, 2 p.m.

Class AAA

* Berkmar High School, Lilburn, 2:30 p.m.

* Cartersville High School, Cartersville, 2:45 p.m.

* North Hall High School, Gainesville, 3 p.m.

* Lumpkin High School, Dahlonega, 3:15 p.m.

* Sprayberry High School, Marietta, 3:30 p.m.

Class AAAA

* Ooltewah High School, Ooltewah, Tenn., 4:40 p.m.

* North Augusta High School, North Augusta, S.C., 5:10 p.m.

* Heritage High School, Conyers, 5:30 p.m.

* Habersham Central High School, Mt. Airy, 5:50 p.m.

* Northside High School, Warner Robins, 6:10 p.m.

* East Coweta High School, Sharpsburg, 6:30 p.m.

Class AAAAA

* Rome High School, Rome, 6:50 p.m.

* Ringgold High School, Ringgold, 7:10 p.m.

* Milton High School, Milton, 7:30 p.m.

* North Cobb High School, Kennesaw, 7:50 p.m.

The exhibition by the Newnan High Marching Cats as host band is 8:05 p.m., followed by the awards at 8:20 p.m.

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