The 2024 season for the Grand Pacer Marching Band began this week as the group of more than 120 students gathered at Hayes High School for the week of pre-band camp practice.

The band met this week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a week of practice focused on fundamentals, pre-game drill and, later in the week, the beginning of its new competition show. Band Director Bill Fowles said the show this year is called “A Girl in Red,” and the music is themed on “Little Red Riding Hood.”

The band’s 2023 competition season was highly successful as it earned a “Superior” rating at all four of its competitions as well as the State Marching Band Finals. Fowles said Tuesday that he’s been impressed by the band this year and hopes for another successful season at its four competitions.

“It’s always nice to have a season like that and then starting a brand new one, there’s some unknowns,” Fowles said. “We had two weeks in June to get ready for the Fourth of July Parade with our freshman and all the new members, and I’ve been really impressed so far by their work ethic and how they’re responding. I’m looking to continue that success we had last year.”

Fowles added the band has about 125 members this year, an increase of about 12 kids from last year. The band features 40 freshmen members this year, which Fowles attributes to the band generating excitement at Dempsey Middle School.

“I’d like to think it’s just that we’ve got kids excited at the middle school level,” he said. “Because of that excitement in the middle school, we continue to carry that over here at the high school, and we’ll continue to have the successes we’ve been having here at the high school. That gets kids excited.”

Fowles said he tries to make members of the band feel excited when they play during Friday night football games.

“I really push to try and make Friday nights a community event where we support each other,” Fowles said. “(I want to) get them excited about playing at games and being out on the field. By having that and continuing to do that, kids ultimately get excited to be involved and included.”

Avery Takas, a senior at Hayes and the captain of the Color Guard, said she’s “very excited” for the start of the season.

“So far it’s going really good,” Takas said. “We have a really good group that just came in in the freshman class. They are doing really good so far. I feel like we’re trying to do better than we did last year, and I’m a little nervous that we hit a high point but I feel like we can do it and pass it.”

As a member of the Color Guard, Takas is front and center during performances and said being so visible does sometimes make her nervous.

“We have some pretty hard moves we have to do,” Takas said. “We’re the visual of the band, so if we mess up, it’s the first thing they see. With guard you have to learn to ignore your mess ups and do better on your next thing. I’m very excited to learn drill and learn our show.”

Dylan Craft, a fellow senior and the percussion captain, said it felt “really good” to start the season this week.

“I think these are some of the best freshmen we’ve had yet,” Craft said. “I’m seeing a lot of rapid improvement and a lot of progress. I’m feeling good.”

Craft said he has his sights set on the same success as last year and is excited to step into a leadership role this year.

“Last year we were able to get a superior rating at each of our competitions,” Craft said. “I’m hoping for that again. … I had a minor role as section leader (last year) so stepping up into a captain role wasn’t very difficult. I’d like to think I’m a good role model with good communication skills, and I’m seeing a lot of improvement in the people I’ve talked to and led.”

Horn captain and fellow senior Xavier McCloskey said the season has been “really promising so far.”

“We have a lot of great freshmen, and the returning members are really good,” McCloskey said. “We came off a pretty decent season last year, so these people are ready to do something great, I think.”

McCloskey said the music this year is “a whole different level” than last year’s show.

“If we can perform that music at any level that’s (similar) to what we did last year, we will blow last year out of the water,” McCloskey said. “It’s a whole different style of music and show. If we do it at a good level, it’s going to be so much better than our best last year.”

The band will continue to practice this week and return to the field all day next week for Band Camp.

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.