If you’ve been around Crawfordsville High School recently, you might have heard a distinct sound of music coming from the back of the building. That’s because the summer season for Montgomery County United Band and Guard is well underway.
The group that features 62 musicians from Southmont, North Montgomery and Crawfordsville recently completed a grueling 55-hour week of band camp and are preparing for the competition season.
Their first competition will be Thursday when MCU will host the third annual Golden Lion Invitational at Crawfordsville High School. Nine other bands will compete, including Marion, Frankton-Lapel, Tri-West, Western Boone, Tipton, Mooresville, Sheridan, Anderson and Cardinal Ritter.
MCU is directed by the band directors from each county high school — Andy Simpkins from North Montgomery, Elizabeth Newnum from Southmont and Jon Tebbe from Crawfordsville.
The 2024 production for MCU is entitled “Through the Eyes of Imagination.”
“It really stems from children having such a vast imagination and that’s what we’re trying to tell with our show,” Tebbe said. “Children have such a unique perspective with how they see things too. You’ll see us start out the show very light and having fun with our opener then as we get into the middle of our show it shows the hard times that kids go through, and our little girl being told she can’t do these things and having her imagination silenced. Then we end with having the little girl breaking through all those barriers and showing everyone that her ideas and imagination can make the world a better place.”
Originally, two years ago when MCU got the green light to put on the first Golden Lion Invitational, it was a daunting task to get all the help that is required. As Tebbe explains though that first year was well worth it as this contest is the only one on the west side of Indianapolis in the Central Indiana Track Show Association circuit.
“That first year it took a lot of work of just walking around the school and the athletic complex to just get a feel of how things were going to happen,” Tebbe added. “Everything from how the bands were going to enter and exit to how were they going to bring props in, to how were our judges going to feel comfortable, there was just so many variables that went into putting it on that first year. We had so many great volunteers and parents that continue to help out and we couldn’t put this one without the support of our boosters and everyone else. We’ve really been able to use that template from that first year and modify some small things to make sure we continue to put on a great competition for everyone.”
The Golden Lion is one of five contests that MCU will compete at this summer. The group will head to Muncie Central on Saturday. On July 26, the band will perform at Anderson and will travel to Winchester on July 27.
The competitions lead up to Band Day on Aug. 2 at the Indiana State Fair. MCU has been a finalist at the state fair every year since 2017 and had its highest placement a season ago when the group finished 10th.
The Golden Lion Invitational begins at 7 p.m. Thursday and MCU is slated to perform at 8:05 p.m.
