The Mid-Prairie Band; photo by Joe Cerwinske

Tomorrow is the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Band Festival in Pella, and Mid-Prairie and Highland will be performing within 15 minutes of each other. The Mid-Prairie marching band will be performing their KISS show, which includes the songs “Rock and Roll All Night,” “Beth,” “Detroit Rock City,” and “Shout it Out Loud.” Mid-Prairie band instructor David Kunz believes the band will do better than last year, as he feels it’s a stronger band with more students, they’re playing better, and their marching is more fundamentally sound. At last weekend’s Wilton Festival of Bands, Mid-Prairie placed third overall in class 2A, and received awards for outstanding horn line, drum line, drum majors, marching execution, and drill design.

Mid-Prairie plays at 10:55 a.m., and Highland takes the field right after at 11:10 a.m. They will be performing their show called “Surf’s Up!” which includes “I Get Around,” “Wipe Out,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun!” Highland band instructor Jill Fair said this year’s marching band includes some of the hardest working kids she’s met, and they’ve kept the season enjoyable. Their unofficial motto has been “We didn’t come this far to only come this far,” so Fair believes they’ll give it everything they’ve got and have their best performance of the year. The competition will be tomorrow at the Pella High School football field.