Blue Devil Band's Triple Play
The Blue Devil marching band recently pulled off an impressive triple play that is exhausting just to read about. What amounted to a 14-hour day was a combination of hard work, enjoyment, accomplishment and pure satisfaction.
It was a sun drenched Saturday that started much earlier than usual after town officials asked the band to march in the first ever "Unity in the Community" parade down New York Avenue in Huntington Station.
Although it meant waking up a few hours earlier than teenagers usually want to do on a weekend, the Blue Devils quickly agreed to participate in the parade, which made the community day's organizers quite happy. The band performed several times along the parade route as the sound of musical instruments and the sight of dazzling color guard displays caught the attention many ears and eyes.
The Blue Devils later practiced in the high school parking lot before performing at halftime of the Huntington varsity football game. The show was well-received by the large crowd filling the bleachers. "Everyone appreciated the appearance by the band," said Superintendent John J. Finello, who was among those in the crowd. The band sounded great and the color guard was sensational."
Later Saturday night, the band shined again, this time during a multi-school competition under the lights at Walt Whitman High School. Despite the long day, the Blue Devils put on an excellent performance and improved their score by 4.5 points over their previous week's total.
The "hat-trick" was a grueling undertaking, but the band and staff members, the Band Parent Association volunteers who do the heavy lifting behind the scenes and all the other parents who have made a significant commitment to the program along with their child, weren't fazed at all.
Incredibly, there was little rest for the weary. The Blue Devils were back at Huntington High School Sunday morning at 10 a.m. for the start of a three hour practice.