Moving down a hill at a fast pace, adrenaline rushes through their veins. Freezing cold snow blasts their faces as they glide down the hill. This is what it was like for the Marching Band members when they went sledding after their state competition was cancelled. 

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Colorado was hit with a massive snow storm, with non-stop snow for 24 hours. This caused the competition for 4A and 5A marching bands to be cancelled with no chance at rescheduling.

“It’s disappointing, just like with the students,” Band director Mr. Chuck Stephen said. “Because we worked so hard for that, then to have it cancel our culminating event is kind of a let down.”

However, the band members had something scheduled that would take their minds off the snow and the competition’s cancellation. They decided to make the best out of the snow and go sledding as a wrap up to the season.

“It’s definitely a memory that’s going to stick with for a while,” band member Nathan Dankers ‘20 said. “Not many people can say that they ended their Marching Band career by going sledding.”

The Colorado Bandmasters Association sent out the news on Friday, Oct. 25, devastating the senior class that thought they wouldn’t get to have one last run of their show. However, Mr. Stephen had already been in the process of creating an event to give seniors one last chance to perform. 

“During parent teacher conferences, I actually started calling directors and proposing my idea,” Mr. Stephen said. “The discussion started between myself, Fairview’s director, Centaurus, Legacy’s director, and the four of us started putting all of the plans together to try and make it work.”

These four directors spent several hours on the phone scheduling the itinerary. They organized a mini-state performance that consisted of six bands: Broomfield, Horizon, Legacy, Monarch, Fairview, and Centaurus.

“It was really fun,” band member Colin Raulf ‘20 said. “We got to watch and support our local bands and it really shows how close the band community is here.”

After seeing the devastation of the cancellation on the students’ faces, Mr. Stephen is trying to do everything he can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Being on the Marching Committee this year, I’m going to advocate that there has to be an alternate plan, whether it’s at a high school stadium,” Mr. Stephen said. “There has to be some kind of backup plan because this is the first time this has ever happened and we’ve never had it where it was cancelled with nothing else after that.”

“It was a mix of putting a band-aid over a stab wound and making lemonade out of lemons. It’s definitely a memory that’s going to stick with for a while. Not many people can say that they ended their Marching Band career by going sledding,” Dankers said.