The Demise of Westlake (Contest) ...?

[talkorpi]

I haven't even seen a schedule for this contest yet, and it's this saturday. They must be struggling to fill it. Didn't this used to be a huge contest?

[Hard Core Band Fan]

It does seem really late to not have the schedule up yet. Kind of hard to make plans when you don't even know when it starts. This was a big contest at one time, but they are many more competitions now. You'd think they would try a little harder to accommodate potential attendees. Has it been cancelled?

[Chupacabra1222]

Demise is a strong word, very strong bands there still this year:

 

Hendrickson

Round Rock

Dripping Springs

O'Connor

Hays

New Braunfels

 

Quality is still really good... All the above bands are having a great season! Smaller sure but that's describing more and more local contests as BOA and other contests are drawing interest.

 

Here's the schedule:

 

5A

 

MCCallum- 2:00

 

Boerne Champion- 2:15

 

Seguin- 2:30

 

Medina Valley- 2:45

 

Dripping Springs- 3:00

 

Class 5A Awards Ceremony 3:20

Break

 

6A

 

Round Rock- 3:45

 

Hays- 4:15

 

New Braunfels- 4:30

 

Del Valle- 4:45

 

O’Connor- 5:00

 

Hendrickson- 5:15

 

Class 6A Awards Ceremony 5:30

 

Finals- 7 PM? I believe

[Andreahuynh]

Hendrickson will not be performing at westlake this year

[eminiminds]

The schedule is up... 10 bands attending.

http://www.westlakemarchingfestival.com/schedule.html

[takigan]

  On 10/2/2016 at 4:34 PM, talkorpi said:

I haven't even seen a schedule for this contest yet, and it's this saturday. They must be struggling to fill it. Didn't this used to be a huge contest?

 

Also one of the oldest that's still running.  They've been doing their thing since 1977....that's older than the UIL State Marching Contest.

[SamuelCulper]

The people who run the contest are great, but it has a lot of disadvantages. Parking for fans is remote and the Hills are a beating for students and chaperones.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

And in many years, it has rained. I've been going to this contest on and off since the mid 80's and I have gotten soaked there many times. Also, since the stadium is all metal, when the lightening alarms go off you have to completely vacate the stadium and go out into the parking lots. Some years the stadium had to be cleared multiple times during the contest. I think my highest count was 8 times. But, it has been a great contest for many years and I have fond memories of attending it.

 

Back in the 80's and early 90's the Westlake contest was one of the major contests in Central Texas. BOA was just starting and the state marching contest was the big contest to attend. The Capital City contest was another in this area that was popular for many years.

[band78254]

Sad to see Hendrickson back out as they did well in Conroe BOA with a 4th place and were beat by Round Rock in BOA Austin with RR in 5th and Hendrickson in 8th.  Seems the several additional Texas BOAs over the past few years on different weekends and other festivals that are popping up have spread many contests thin.  There are still several very good bands in this contest and its still a worthy event to attend with great weather forecasted.

 

I look forward to seeing all of the bands but mostly:

Round Rock

O'Connor

Dripping Springs

Westlake (exhibition)

Hays

[whitewing09]

It's quite unfortunate that they have to compete with the Texas marching classic.

[talkorpi]

Is anybody at this contest?

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Yes, all of the bands have played in the prelims. In 5A, Dripping Springs was 1st, Sequin was 2nd, and McCallum was 3rd. As I remember it, Sequin won auxilary and percussion captions and Dripping Springs won marching and music. Waiting for 6A announcements.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

6A: Round Rock - auxilary, percussion, marching, music captions

 

3rd - O'Connor

2nd - New Braunfels

1st - Round Rock

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Finals

 

9th - 63.50 Boerne Champion

8th - 63.55 Del Valle

7th - 71.15 Seguin

6th - 73.10 Hays

5th - 76.80 O'Connor

4th - 77.10 McCallum

3rd - 79.35 Dripping Springs

2nd - 79.70 New Braunfels

1st - 85.15 Round Rock

[talkorpi]

Do you know what caption awards in finals were?

[Hard Core Band Fan]

No captions given in the finals, just placements. I think Round Rock would have swept the captions had there been any. They were just at a different level than the other bands. Not surprising for a two-time Grand National finalist.

[eminiminds]

Does anyone know why Medina Valley wasn't at finals? All 10 prelims bands should have had a finals performance.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

I think they chose to not perform.

[talkorpi]

Interesting.

[talkorpi]

I'm interested in performances by McCallum and New Braunfels. Considering that both beat O'Connor and New Braunfels beat Dripping Springs (!) and both bands are not usually top scorers, how were their their performances?

[Hard Core Band Fan]

  On 10/9/2016 at 5:17 PM, talkorpi said:

I'm interested in performances by McCallum and New Braunfels. Considering that both beat O'Connor and New Braunfels beat Dripping Springs (!) and both bands are not usually top scorers, how were their their performances?

 

Well, Dripping Springs just didn't have good runs that day and McCallum and New Braunfels did. McCallum performed well both times and honestly, I really enjoyed their show. New Braunfels played and marched much better in the finals and narrowly jumped past Dripping Springs.

 

O'Connor just had a lot of issues, especially in the latter half of their program. They have a lot to clean up yet.