Twenty. Six. Years. of Band Tradition and Strength

Twenty six years. Think about how long that is. Twenty six years. What were you doing 26 years ago? My oldest daughter was 9 months old and I was pregnant with my 2nd child. That was me 26 years ago. And what have you done over the past 26 years? Think of all of the changes in your life over 26 years. Twenty. Six. Years.

Quietly, through change after change, through different leaders and compositions, through strength and determination and an ethic of very hard work, the Keokuk Senior High School Marching Band has done something for the past 26 years that is quite amazing. Truly.

This past Saturday, on a football field in Marshalltown, Iowa, the Keokuk Marching Band took the field to perform their current routine. After gaining numerous top ratings over the course of the 2011 marching band season, the Band took the field one last time at the State Competition.

State Competition isn't like other competitions. At state, you compete against yourself, basically. You aren't there, necessarily, to out perform the other guy. You are there to do your very best and to achieve the highest ranking that the state has to offer. The judges are there to watch your every step, listen to your every note, watch the flutter of every flag. They are there to judge whether or not you performed your routine to the very best ability that it could be performed. There are no "do overs". No 3rd and long to give you a second chance. You get one try. One. So what if you won every trophy in every contest that you've entered that year? It does not matter. Not one iota. This time, if you aren't spot on, you get a lower state ranking.

You're up against a whole lotta tradition, in that state competition, if you're in the Keokuk Marching Band. Twenty Six Years worth of tradition. For Twenty Six straight years the Keokuk Marching Band has traveled to state competition and come home, triumphantly, with a #1 ranking. The highest ranking you can get. Twenty Six Years. Wow.

Think about how difficult a task that is. We're not talking the Rolling Stones here. We are talking about 26 years of changes. Two things have remained consistent in this organization for 26 years. The name and the state ranking of 1. Through numerous director changes, yearly drum major changes, freshman every single year, different compositions of instruments, and dealing constantly with teenagers, this organization, this group, this band has stayed the course. Tradition. Strength. And Community.

Community. Keokuk. The past 26 years hasn't been easy on Keokuk. One just has to look at Main Street or walk through the mall to see the toll that 26 years has taken on this old river town. Empty stores. Falling down buildings. Closed businesses. The unemployment rate here is high. Very high. It's tough. Hard sometimes to struggle on and hang in there. Hard to find the silver lining in the clouds.

However, for 26 years, despite the economy and the hard times, Keokuk, as a Community, has supported The Band. You don't get 26 years of State 1 rankings without support. 26 years of different kids also means 26 years of different parents and Band Boosters. 26 years means constant change behind the scenes of the band, too.

For 26 years this organization has shown commitment, pride, and strength. They have Proudly, consistently, and determinedly represented Keokuk everywhere they perform. Can you imagine that? 26 years of achieving the highest ranking that you can get in this state. Amazing.

So, what do you get when you come home from your 26th straight #1 state ranking? You come home to find the door to the band room at the high school decorated in congratulations for you. That's it. No crowd waiting for you, cheering you on in victory. No reporters. No fire trucks escorting you from the city limits to the school. No pep rally in the field house. Nope. You come home and unload your gear. You put away props and instruments and uniforms. You unload buses and vans and trailers.

You ring the Victory Bell 26 times. Twenty. Six. 26 times that bell pealed sound across the town. 26. I bet no one counted the individual peals. I bet no one drove to the high school to see what the celebration was about. Twenty Six straight State #1 rankings in a phenomenal achievement. Amazing.

Keokuk should be proud of The Band. We'd better be. Those kids represent us beyond well throughout the state. They don't get the Press the sports teams get. They don't get the kudos that academic achievers get. They keep going strong, despite the lack of pomp surrounding their victories. For 26 years, through more changes than most of us could endure, The Band has done us proud.

Maybe it's time that we return the favor.