Norwell, Homestead, Dekalb and Woodlan the big winners "On The Banks Of The Wabash"

Bluffton High School’s new look Fred Park Field went on display to representatives from schools all over Northeast Indiana Saturday, as Bluffton hosted its 34th annual “On The Banks Of The Wabash” marching band competition.

After the less than spectacular weather of the previous week, bands from 20 area schools and their supporters were greeted to a bright sunny day, and a solid track on which to perform their respective routines. At the close of competition, Bluffton’s “Bengal Brigade” performed an exhibition of their season’s competition routine, “Green,” just prior to the final awards.

And while the field may have been different, the results were almost a repeat of last year with Homestead (Class A), Dekalb (Class B), Norwell (Class C) and Woodlan (Class D) once again taking out the top honors in their respective groups, and Homestead once again taking the “Grand Champion" award, scoring the most points across all four classes.

This year wasn’t quite the clean sweep of last year however.

While Homestead, Norwell and Woodlan claimed all three caption awards in their classes, Angola’s Hornet Brigade was able to steal the “Best Visual” caption from Dekalb in Class B. The Baron Brigade however did secure "Best General Effect" and "Best Music," enabling them to secure the class title.

IPFW Band Director and Director of Instrumental Studies Dr. Chad Nicholson presented the awards in all four classes.

Both Bluffton and Norwell travel to Dekalb for competition this weekend. Bluffton will compete in Class D, while Norwell will compete in Class C.

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

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

Class B:
1st — Dekalb.
2nd — Angola.
3rd — East Noble.
4th — Columbia City.
5th — Bishop Dwenger.
6th — Wayne.
Visual — Dekalb.
Music — Dekalb.
General Effect — Angola.

Class C:
1st — Norwell.
2nd — Concordia.
3rd — Heritage.
4th — Garrett.
5th — New Haven.
Visual — Norwell.
Music — Norwell.
General Effect — Norwell.

Class D:
1st — Woodlan.
2nd — Adams Central.
3rd — Eastside.
4th — Bremen.
Visual — Woodlan.
Music — Woodlan.
General Effect — Woodlan.

Additional photos and video from the event will be posted over the coming week.

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