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Main Street in Pleasanton was filled with the sounds of music last Saturday as 50 marching bands from high schools and middle schools throughout the area passed under the Pleasanton arch.

Hosted every year since 1974, the marching band competition then moved over to Foothill's stadium for field show competition.

Granite Bay High School won the Sweepstakes Grand Prize for best field show.

Sweepstakes winners were: Best Colorguard, Mountain View High School; best marching and best showmanship, Granite Bay High School; best music, McQueen High School.

The bands were judged on their music, performance and marching as they passed by the reviewing stand. Bands are separated by size to ensure fair comparisons in the judging. Foothill and Amador Valley were not eligible for awards on their home turf.

Also in the reviewing stand was the Grand Marshal of the parade and Pleasanton School Superintendent John Casey. Other invited guests were representatives from the Pasadena Tournament of Roses committee, who were there to assess each band for possible future invitation to their parade.

Winning bands in each parade class were: Middle School, Redwood Middle School; Class E, Santa Cruz High School; Class D, Vallejo High School; Class C, Buhach Colony High School; Class B, Jesse Bethel High School; Class A, Fairfield High School; Sweepstakes Grand Prize, Benicia High School.

Drum Major winners were: Middle School, Wells Middle School and Toby Johnson Middle School; High Schools, San Mateo, Granite Bay and Santa Clara high schools.

Other winners were Vallejo High School for Percussion and Benicia High School for Colorguard. Benicia also took the Sweepstakes Grand Prize for best parade band.

At the same time as the parade, 21 schools were performing in 27 concerts held at both Amador Valley and Foothill high schools. The bands were judged on their music performances. Winning performances in each concert class were: Middle School, Redwood Middle School; Class D, Dublin High School; Class C, Northgate High School (III); Class B, Benicia High School (II); Class A, Oakridge High School; Class AA, Franklin High School of Elk Grove.

In the afternoon, 25 of the bands performed their half-time field shows, with bands coming from the Bay and Sacramento areas, San Joaquin Valley, and as far south as Woodlake and Nevada. Each band had 15 minutes to perform. Bands were judged on their music, showmanship, marching and visual effect.

Bands were again separated by size to ensure fair comparisons in the judging. Foothill was not eligible for awards on their home turf; and Amador Valley was competing at the Quest Marching Band Competition.

Foothill was presented an award by State Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-18th) for being the marching band Sweepstakes Grand prize winner of the Fiesta Bowl Parade. She also presented Foothill Band Director Bob Moorefield with a special award commemorating his 35 years of leadership of the band programs at Foothill including over 2,500 first place and sweepstakes trophies awarded to his bands.

Winning bands in each field show class were: Class 5, Wilcox High School; Class 4, Terra Nova High School; Class 3, Vintage High School; Class 2, Cupertino High School; Class 1, McQueen High School; Field Show Conducting, Mountain View High School; Percussion, McQueen High School; Brass, McQueen High School; Woodwinds, Cupertino High School.

Winners of Colorguard awards were: Class 5, Riverbank High School; Class 4, American High School; Class 3, Union Mine High School; Class 2, Cupertino High School; Class 1, Granite Bay High School.

Three special awards were also given. Lodi High School was honored for making its 30th appearance. Mountain View High School won for Grand Champion Drum Major and Field Show Conductor. Granite Bay High School won the overall Sweepstakes Grand Champion award for Parade and Field Show.

"The Foothill Band Review's goals are to provide an enjoyable event for Pleasanton," said Bob Babb, Foothill's Band Review chairman. "The fundraising provides middle school and high school students a positive educational experience, which results in improvement in performance, while also rewarding exceptional results."

"All of the bands performed extremely well and we believe they enjoyed visiting Pleasanton," he added. "The Foothill band would like to thank the many volunteers, sponsors, downtown merchants, the neighborhoods adjacent to Foothill, the Pleasanton school district employees and the Pleasanton Police Department for making this event a success."

- Bob Babb

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