Golden River Marching Festival

The Golden River Marching Festival is a band competition held every year by Haralson County High School.It is held every year around mid October for bands to come and demonstrate their marching skill. Prior to the actual day of the festival, the directors of each band call to sign up for the competition. Within the past four years, the attending bands have numbered over 50 with many bands returning each year.
Some bands go to the competition purely for the festival section, in which they march their show on the field and get graded by the judges, but don’t actually enter the competition. These bands do it mostly for the practice and constructive criticism by the judges. The other bands actually compete against each other for trophies given out at the end of the night. There are trophies for every aspect of the marching band, and a first, second, and third place trophy for each. These are the trophies given out: drum major, percussion, overall band, visual ensemble, and danceline-majorette. The bands are also categorized by their size, given a 1A, 2A, 3A, sometimes 4A, and an open class, where only the largest bands compete in. Each size rating also has their own personal trophies, which can really add up when it comes to the host band that actually has to purchase them. This keeps small bands and large bands from competing against each other, because each has silver bullets to the other. The larger bands have more opportunities to have grander ad more complex shows, but lack singular skill, because they are viewed as one instead of many. The smaller bands, on the other hand, are limited in their shows, but because of the small size, every member has to be at the top of their game, because it is far easier to spot an out of step person in a small band than in a large.
The Golden River Marching Festival is run entirely by the Haralson County Rebel Band. Every concession stand, program booth, and water stand is run by either a band member or band parent. Each job is assigned by the band director usually a week before the festival. Each band member is given a ballet in which they choose their 3 most wanted jobs. There are many jobs, from band guide or judge’s assistant all the way to sanitation, with many jobs in between. Which job they get depends on mostly on experience and seniority. For example, a band rookie, or a first time marcher, is extremely less likely to be a band guide for a large band compared to a senior that has guided bands for the past 2 or 3 years. Though some jobs have more glorified names than others, all are of equal importance. A band member assigned to sanitation might be jealous of the one guiding bands, but what bands would even come if within the first few hours of showing up, every trashcan is full and the campus is filthy.
While many bands perform, none draws as much attention as the one special band. Every year the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners perform for the competing bands. The greatest part for any band member is when they are chosen to guide the Southerners, though it is usually very easy because the band already knows what to do and where to go. The Southerners are the second to last band to play, going on just before the host band of Haralson County.
The very last band to perform at the festival is the host band, the Haralson County Rebels. Unlike the other bands, the host band of any festival are not judged and do not enter competition.

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