Oakton Band is in Full Swing

Joshua's been back at school for about a month now and the band program is going full speed ahead. We had one of our two major fund-raisers, Tag Day, about three weeks ago. Tag Day is a one-day blitz in which all band members go door-to-door (in pairs or threesomes, never alone) to solicit donations. Canadian Salvationists can consider it the band's equivalent of the annual Red Shield campaign. Even though 95% or more of the proceeds were collected on Tag Day, checks are still trickling into the school and will continue to do so for another couple of weeks.

The second major fund-raiser will take place on October 20: the Oakton Classic. This is a marching band competition hosted by our band at our field. Funds are raised via competition fees for the participating bands, admission fees for the spectators, sales of food and other concessions to all, sales of advertising space in the printed program, and sales of the printed programs. Advertising space is typically sold to local businesses and to families, who send greetings to band members, sections, etc. Last year, Dave and I bought a credit-card sized ad for a greeting to the trombone section. This year, we've raised the amount of our donation and purchased a 1/2 page ad to send a personalized greeting to Joshua. The greeting below will be appearing somewhere in the program:



Marching band season will conclude in about one more month. Then the band members will trade in their marching uniforms for tuxedos and gowns as they get into concert season.