N-B Video: Ossian Elementary students puts on Christmas program

During Ossian Elementary School's "A Christmas Celebration in Who-Ville," the Jefferson Street Singers perform "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and the fourth graders performed "Frosty the Snowman" Thursday afternoon. (Videos by Jessica Williams)

N-B Video: Dancing and singing with the holidays

“Be Home for Christmas” was the theme for the Wells County Extension Homemakers holiday luncheon Tuesday at the Wells County Community Center at the 4-H Park, and to celebrate the season, the Homemakers Chorus sang two songs while the Creative Arts Council School of Ballet celebrated veterans' homecoming through dance. Learn more in the Wednesday, Dec. 12, News-Banner. (Video by Barbara Barbieri)

Norwell Show Choir's Trip to Florida Approved

In April 2011, they took New York by storm and in March 2013, the Knight Sounds and Knight Stars will be attempting to do the same in Orlando, Fla.

The Northern Wells Community Schools board gave approval Tuesday evening for Norwell's show choirs to travel to Florida next March.

From March 16 to 19, the Hsrd Rock Live Theatre located at Universal Studios will be hosting one of six nationwide FAME National Championship Series competitions. The other five will be in Hollywood (from March 2), New York (from March 9), Chicago (from March 23), Branson, Mo. (starting April 6, and Orlando (a second event starting April 6). The national finals will be held in Chicago April 26-27, with competition organizers paying for the regional winners to attend this event.

The series is expected to see the best show choirs from around the country going up against each other.

Norwell’s Orlando competition will be held over four days, involving a three night stay.

Come along to Saturday's show choir fundraiser and help support the students as they once again represent Wells County in a high-profile national event.

Norwel Show Choir Host Fundraiser Saturday

Norwell’s show choirs will be continuing their fundraising efforts this weekend with a big auction and dinner.

Over 100 items have been gathered up for auction, including a 4-ton geothermal heat pump valued at $9,300 and Embassy Broadway season tickets valued at $500. Also up for grabs is a gourmet meal cooked in your home valued at $550.

The drawing of the raffle that the show choir boosters have been selling tickets for since the Bluffton Street Fair will also be held at the event. Prizes in this include a Chandler Harnish package, an iPad, a large screen television and a Vera Bradley travel set.

The evening’s activities will commence at 5 p.m. with a $7 dinner, comprising a loaded baked potato (four varieties) or a hot dog, along with a drink, ice-cream and cookie. At 5:30 p.m. bidding in the silent auction begins, and at 6 p.m. the show choirs will perform. The bidding auction begins at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for the dinner can be purchased from any show choir student or parent and will be available at the door.

While the price for the dinner is $7, there is no charge to attend the auction or program.

County Bands Qualify For State

Both Norwell (pictured above) and Bluffton marching bands are now just one step away from qualifying for this year’s State Championships.

Both the Bengal Brigade and the Marching Knights successfully negotiated their respective regional championship qualifiers over the weekend, and now target the semi-state qualifiers, scheduled to be held Oct. 27.

Competing at Chesterton, Bluffton secured a gold rating in Class D. Norwell outshone the rain to achieve the same result at Lafayette Jefferson.

For Norwell, competing in Class C, competing at Semi-State will mean a trip to Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis. For Bluffton, competing in Class D, the competition will be at Franklin Community High School.

Bluffton has this coming weekend off, before their next big test, however Norwell will contest the Bands of America Regional Championships Saturday afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium.

County Bands Shine on Busy Competition Saturday

Both Bluffton and Norwell marching bands made the most of a full Saturday schedules, contesting two competitions Saturday in a final shakedown before the Regional Championships.

Both bands began their weekend contesting the Homestead Invitational, before heading to Wayne High School for the Snider Invitational. And both bands returned with to Wells County with a large haul of silverware to show for their efforts.

Norwell had the greater success at Homestead, taking first place in Class C, as well as the caption awards for “Best Music” and “Best Visual”. They tied with Concordia for “Best General Effect.”

Wayne proved a happy hunting ground for both Wells County bands. Norwell placed first in Class C, while Bluffton placed first in Class D. Both bands swept the caption awards in their respective classes, winning “Best Music,” “Best Visual” and “Best General Effect.” (The photo above, provided by Norwell Music Boosters, shows Norwell Color Guard Captain Emily Easley, Norwell Drum Major Kelly McAvoy and Bluffton Drum Major Morgan Napier with their trophies won at Wayne.)

Norwell then put the icing on the cake, claiming the Grand Champion award, for the highest score across all classes.

Bluffton and Norwell now press on to their respective class Regional Championships this Saturday, in an effort to qualify for this year’s State Championships.

The ISSMA Regional Championships for Bluffton (Class D) will be at Chesterton Oct. 13, while Norwell (Class C) will be at Lafayette Jefferson.

Both Bluffton and Norwell marching bands successfully negotiated their first hurdle on the way to this year’s state championships at Lucas Oil Field.

Competing Saturday in the ISSMA District Championships in Homestead, both bands secured gold ratings in their respective classes, to move on to the regional championships stage, in two weeks time. Norwell also secured the “Best Music” and “Best General Effect” caption awards in Class C.

Both bands warm up for the Regional Championships with a double header this weekend, competing at Homestead in the morning and then traveling to Wayne High School for the Snider Invitational in the afternoon.

Bluffton will compete at 10:52 at Homestead and at 4 p.m. at Wayne. Norwell will compete at 12:10 p.m. at Homestead and at 5:18 p.m. at Wayne.

The ISSMA Regional Championships for Bluffton (Class D) will be at Chesterton Oct. 13, while Norwell (Class C) will be at Lafayette Jefferson.

Pictured above, Norwell Color Guard Captain Emily Easley and Drum Major Kelly McAvoy show off their latest additions to Norwell's trophy cabinet after Saturday's competition at Homestead. Thanks to Norwell Music Boosters for the photo and information.)

Norwell’s Marching Knights stole the show at East Noble Saturday afternoon.

Competing in Class C, Norwell swept the caption awards, winning Best Color Guard, Best Percussion, Best Visual, Best Music and Best General Effect, on their way to first place.

But that wasn’t all.

As the highest scoring band across all four classes, they were named event “Grand Champion.”

Norwell travel to Homestead this weekend, where they will be joined by Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade, as both contest their respective divisions at the ISSMA District Championships in the hope of qualifying for the State Championships.


Pictured above are Drum Major Kelly McAvoy and Color Guard Captain Emily Easley, showing off the trophy haul from East Noble. Thanks to Chris Garrett for the pic and information.

County bands shine at DeKalb

Saturday provided both Bluffton and Norwell marching bands with a profitable raid to DeKalb.

Norwell (pictured above) finished top of Class C, and also taking the caption awards for Best Music and Best Visual. They tied with Concordia Lutheran for the caption award for Best General Effect.

In Class D, Bluffton tied with Eastside for the caption award for Best Visual, placing second behind Adams Central.

Bluffton compete at Hamilton Southeastern this Saturday, in a Midstates competition. Norwell will compete at East Noble on Saturday.

N-B Video: Bluffton and Norwell perform at "On the Banks of the Wabash"

The Bluffton High School and Norwell High School bands entertain and compete during the annual "On the Banks of the Wabash" show. Learn more in the Monday, Sept. 10, News-Banner. (Video by Frank Shanly)

Norwell Places Second at Bluffton's "On The Banks Of The Wabash" Competition

Saturday’s 35th annual “On The Banks Of The Wabash” at Fred Park Field presented something of a dilemma for Norwell’s Marching Knights.

Would they come to Bluffton to defend the Class C title they had won the past two years, or would they participate in the Ossian Days festivities?

In the end, they came up with a compromise, repeating the decision they made in 2009, when faced with a similar situation. They would participate in Ossian Days, then head south to Bluffton to compete, not in Class C, but up a class, against bigger schools, in Class B.

Dekalb has been the dominant force in this class over recent years, consistently taking first place, and the bulk of the caption awards. In 2009, Norwell was able to equal Dekalb’s scores in the “Best Visual” and “Best General Effect” categories, but Dekalb was able to edge ahead in “Best Music,” enabling them to hold out the Wells County challenge. In 2010, Dekalb had a much easier road to victory, sweeping the caption awards and taking top honors. Last year, Angola was able to pinch the “Best General Effect” category prize, but Dekalb retained its grip on everything else.

This year, with new Band Director Cory Kelley at the helm, the Marching Knights joined Bishop Dwenger, Columbia City, New Haven, South Side and Wayne in trying to dethrone Dekalb’s Baron Brigade. And once again, it was Norwell who provided Dekalb with its toughest challenge. Dekalb was able to retain their crown, but Norwell’s performance of its “Creye” routine came out tops in “Best Music”, and opened its competition season with a second place in Class B.

In all, 21 bands contested four divisions at the event. After the storms of Friday evening that forced the football to be carried over to the morning, a bright, mostly sunny day greeted the bands. During the afternoon, there was just enough wind to provide an extra challenge to color guard performers, however, this subsided for the evening portion of the event.

Homestead continued its run of success in Class A, once again also sweeping the caption awards in this division. Concordia completed a similar sweep in Class C, as did Adams Central in Class D. Homestead won the award for “Overall Grand Champion,” scoring the most points across all four divisions.

Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade brought the performance portion of the competition to a close, with an exhibition performance of the “Area 51” routine that it will take to competitions this season.

Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan Schools District Wayne Barker resented the trophies for classes A and B. Bluffton’s Assistant Band Director Scott Shoup presented the trophies for Class C and D.

Both Bluffton and Norwell travel to Dekalb for competition this weekend. Bluffton will contest Class D, while Norwell will return to Class C for the competition.

Full results from “On The Banks of the Wabash” are as follows:

Class A:
1st — Homestead.
2nd — Carroll.
3rd — Snider.
4th — Northrop.
5th — Huntington North.
Visual — Homestead.
Music — Homestead.
General Effect — Homestead.


Class B:
1st — Dekalb.
2nd — Norwell.
3rd — Columbia City.
4th — Bishop Dwenger.
5th — Wayne.
6th — South Side.
7th — New Haven.
Visual — Dekalb.
Music — Norwell.
General Effect — Dekalb.

Class C:
1st — Concordia.
2nd — Angola.
3rd — Woodlan.
4th — Garrett.
5th — Heritage.
6th — Belmont.
Visual — Concordia.
Music — Concordia.
General Effect — Concordia.

Class D:
1st — Adams Central.
2nd — Eastside.
3rd — Bremen.
Visual — Adams Central.
Music — Adams Central.
General Effect — Adams Central.

Video from the event will be posted over the next couple of days.

Bluffton Hosts 'On The Banks Of The Wabash" Saturday

It’s marching band season once again!

And in Bluffton, that means its time for the annual “On The Banks Of The Wabash” spectacular at Fred Park Stadium.

A total of 21 bands will compete in four classes this year, with the event sponsored by the Bluffton Band Boosters, and is their biggest fundraising event of the year.

The Indiana State School Music Association organizes marching band contests into four classes (A, B, C, and D) with A being for the largest schools.

The Norwell Marching Knights compete in Class B and will perform at 7:15 p.m. this year.

The Bluffton Bengal Brigade competes in Class D but as host school, will only be giving an exhibition performance Saturday. The Bengal Brigade is scheduled to take the field at 9:51 p.m., prior to the final awards ceremony.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and students.

The gates will open at 3:30 p.m., with competition set to commence at 4:13 p.m..
The event is expected to continue until approximately 10:30 p.m.

Concessions will be available at Fred Park Stadium as well as at the middle school. Spectators are encouraged to park at the middle school. Spectator parking will not be allowed in any high school parking lot due to the use of those lots for participating band buses and trailers.

The competing bands and their performance times are:

Class D:
4:13 p.m. — Bremen
4:26 p.m. — Eastside
4:39 p.m. — Adams Central

Class C:
4:52 p.m. — Belmont
5:05 p.m. — Garrett
5:18 p.m. — Heritage
5:31 p.m. — Woodlan
5:44 p.m. — Angola
5:57 p.m. — Concordia

Awards:
6:23 p.m. — Class D and C awards will take place after a short break at the end of Class C competition.

Class B:
7:15 p.m. — Norwell
7:28 p.m. — Wayne
7:41 p.m. — New Haven
7:54 p.m. — South Side
8:07 p.m. — Bishop Dwenger
8:20 p.m. — Columbia City
8:33 p.m. — Dekalb

Class A:
8:46 p.m. — Huntington North
8:59 p.m. — Carroll
9:12 p.m. — Northrop
9:25 p.m. — Snider
9:38 p.m. — Homestead

Exhibition:
10:51 p.m. — Bluffton

Awards:
Class A and Class B awards will be presented after the exhibition performance by Bluffton High School’s Bengal Brigade.

Grocery Run Fundraiser Nets $226 Worth of Groceries for Winner

Jan Duncan (right) and her daughter Lindsey Camnness (center) picked up $226.71 worth of groceries in the Ossian Market Grocery Run Aug. 9, organized by the Norwell Band Boosters. Camnness, running for Duncan, had 90 seconds to run through the store and fill the cart with as many items as she could. With the lucky winners is assistant manager Joe Dettmer.

Special thanks to Norwell Band Boosters for providing the photo. The boosters will be organizing another "grocery raffle" in November to support the Norwell Drumline.

Norwell Show Choirs Take Car Wash Fundraiser to Markle This Weekend

Norwell show choir students will be hosting a car wash fundraiser at Welches All Vehicle Repair in Markle this Saturday.

The car wash will start at 11 a.m., and continue through until 3 p.m. at 115 E. Logan St., Markle.

Norwell Show Choirs Hosting Car Wash Fundraiser Saturday

Norwell show choir students will be hosting a car wash fundraiser at Welches All Vehicle Repair in Ossian this Saturday (July 21).

The car wash will start at 11 a.m., and continue through until 3 p.m. on the 400 block of North Jefferson Street (Ind. 1).

Do you have old metal items to dispose of?

Less than two weeks to go now!

On Saturday, June 16, Norwell’s Marching Knights will be hosting their annual “Metal For Music” fundraiser. They will be collecting old metal items, and then turning them in for cash to help raise funds for their band program.

Band members and supporters will be in the Ossian Elementary School parking lot from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. to collect any items that are delivered. The Knights will also have a crew available to pick up any large local items, should a donor be unable to deliver the item.

Most metallic items will be accepted, but not propane tanks or glass.

The project is a green initiative, and is designed to help the community, as well as to support the Marching Knights, who are raising funds for new uniforms.

For further information, contact Michele Creager on 638-4177.

Items they can accept are as follows:

Water heaters
Pressure tanks
Stoves
Garbage disposals
Old swing sets
Copper/black/iron/
Galvanized pipe
Car rims “no –tires”
Riding/push mowers
Tillers
Old Shovels/Rakes
Old metal grills
Bicycles
Stainless Steel Sinks
Metal File Cabinets
Metal safes
Washers & Dryers
Fencing & Fence Post
Car engines
Car parts
Metal Wood Stoves
Tractor Weights
Chains
Metal Bath Tub
Exercise Equipment-
Bed Frame
Box Springs “without material”
Coat Hangers
Rebar- spikes-
Bird Cages- other animal cages
Metal Office Desk School desk w/o top
Metal Chairs
Screws- nuts-bolts-washers
Empty Metal Burn Barrels
Old tools
Ceiling Fans “motors only”
Any small motor

Aluminum: cans, windows, frames,doors “no glass”, lawn furniture’ wire, rims

Copper Wire

-no propane tanks

Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, fifty-cent pieces and silver dollars are also welcome!

N-B Video: More Wells County Children's Choir videos

After meeting together for four months, 10 members of the Wells County Children's choir present their first concert to the public. The children sang at the First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 20. Check out earlier blog entries for more choir videos. (Video by Barbara Barbieri)

Advance Notice - Norwell's 'Metals For Music' Fundraiser on June 16

It's still a few weeks away, but just in case you may have old metal items you want to donate for the cause, I'm posting this now.

On Saturday, June 16, Norwell’s Marching Knights will be hosting their annual “Metal For Music” fundraiser. They will be collecting old metal items, and then turning them in for cash to help raise funds for their band program.

Band members and supporters will be in the Ossian Elementary school parking lot from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. to collect any items that are delivered. The knights will also have a crew available to pick up any large local items, should a donor be unable to deliver the item.

Most metallic items will be accepted, but not propane tanks or glass.

The project is a green initiative, and is designed to help the community, as well as to support the Marching Knights, who are raising funds for new uniforms.

For further information, contact Michele Creager on 638-4177.

Items they can accept are as follows:

Water heaters
Pressure tanks
Stoves
Garbage disposals
Old swing sets
Copper/black/iron/
Galvanized pipe
Car rims “no –tires”
Riding/push mowers
Tillers
Old Shovels/Rakes
Old metal grills
Bicycles
Stainless Steel Sinks
Metal File Cabinets
Metal safes
Washers & Dryers
Fencing & Fence Post
Car engines
Car parts
Metal Wood Stoves
Tractor Weights
Chains
Metal Bath Tub
Exercise Equipment-
Bed Frame
Box Springs “without material”
Coat Hangers
Rebar- spikes-
Bird Cages- other animal cages
Metal Office Desk School desk w/o top
Metal Chairs
Screws- nuts-bolts-washers
Empty Metal Burn Barrels
Old tools
Ceiling Fans “motors only”
Any small motor

Aluminum: cans, windows, frames,doors “no glass”, lawn furniture’ wire, rims

Copper Wire

-no propane tanks

Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, fifty-cent pieces and silver dollars are also welcome!

N-B Video: Wells County Children's Choir debuts after months of practice

After meeting together for four months, 10 members of the Wells County Children's choir present their first concert to the public. The children sang at the First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 20. We'll have more songs throughout the week. (Video by Barbara Barbieri)

Dance the weekend away

Brandy's Studio of Dance will perform their end-of-the-year recital at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, May 18, and Saturday, May 19, at the Life Church.

The following students will perform.

N-B Video: Bluffton Musical Entourage seniors sing goodbye — "Funky Jesus Music"

The Bluffton High School Musical Entourage performs one more time during the 2011-2012 school year during on its annual spring choral concert Wednesday, May 9. Learn more in the Thursday, May 10, News-Banner. (Video by Frank Shanly)

More Norwell show choir videos

The Norwell Knight Stars and other show choirs perform one more time for the 2011-2012 school year. Learn more in the Monday, May 7, News-Banner. (Video by Frank Shanly)

Photos From Bluffton's End Of Year Show Choir "Spring Show" - The Seniors

Photos From Bluffton's End Of Year Show Choir "Spring Show" - #4

Photos From Bluffton's End Of Year Show Choir "Spring Show" - #3

Photos From Bluffton's End Of Year Show Choir "Spring Show" - #2

Photos From Bluffton's End Of Year Show Choir "Spring Show" - #1

N-B Video: Bluffton Musical Entourage seniors sing goodbye

Bluffton High School seniors perform for the last time as a member of the school's Musical Entourage, which put on its annual spring choral concert Wednesday, May 9. Learn more in the Thursday, May 10, News-Banner. (Videos by Frank Shanly)

Photos From Norwell's End Of Year Show Choir "Reflections" - #14