Dan Balash

Carbondale is open.

According to the school calendar, Marian will be attending the following: 9/6: Stagg 9/13: VJA 9/27: Providence Catholic 10/11: ISU 10/24-10/25: BOA Indianapolis 11/13-11/15: Grand Nationals

Macomb has dropped; moving Providence and beyond in 1A-3A up 15 minutes.

Lockport has always been good about posting their whole schedule. Not to mention, band camp is 40 hours shorter than it was last year (1-9 each day last year vs. 8-12 each day this year.)

Colin Curatolo is the new band director at Evergreen Park, replacing Ken Kazin, who retired after a 40 year career. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/08/ken-kazin-evergreen-park-retires/

O’Fallon Township High School is excited to welcome Stefan Roose as the new Assistant Director of Bands, as well as his wife, Stacy Roose, as a Consultant and Educator with the O’Fallon Township High School Colorguard! Stefan brings a wealth of experience and passion to the role, having previously served as Director of Bands at Lawrence North High School and Co-Director of the Marching Pride of Lawrence Township, as well as a Band Director with Avon Community Schools, all in Indiana. Stefan and Stacy both serve on the WGI Advisory Board and are the co-founders and directors at Elevate Performing Arts. Stefan serves on the Brass Staff for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, and Stacy serves on the Tristate Marching Arts Board and is an active and sought-after designer and educator in the color guard world. Stefan is an accomplished tuba player, currently performing with the Army National Guard Bands, and formerly held the position of principal tubist with the Air National Guard Band of the Midwest. Beyond the podium, Stefan enjoys running, coffee, and brunch with his wife. The Rooses love Disney World and frequently make trips there. Both are thrilled to be joining the O’Fallon community, where they look forward to continuing the school’s legacy of performance excellence while building a strong, healthy, and supportive culture for students and staff alike.

Attending: Alton Belleville East Civic Memorial Collinsville Edwardsville Effingham Fort Zumwalt North Fort Zumwalt West Francis Howell Central Granite City Hillsboro Lafayette Lindbergh Mascoutah Mater Dei Rockwood Summit

Current list of attendees: Canton High School Dunlap High School Hoopeston Area High School LeRoy High School Monmouth-Roseville High School Pleasant Plains High School Rich Township High School Ridgeview High School ROWVA High School Sandwich High School Sherrard High School Streator Township High School Watseka High School 17 spots remain

POSSIBLE out: Lockport Township No competitions listed on their website (https://lockportbands.org/marchingband), which possibly means they're still to be added, but would also corroborate what I was told earlier in the spring that they were no longer planning to compete.

Attached are scores along with a running commentary that I compiled from 1973-1983 of ISU. Does anyone have scores/programs/etc. from 1983-on? ISU History.docx ISU Score History.xlsx

Something tells me that's not an error - looking at their calendar, they have a marching band party scheduled for September 24th (but there's one scheduled for October 15th as well, so who knows?)

2nd time, I think. They were there in 2008, placing 6th in 2A.

Add in Carl Sandburg to 6A, performing at 5:15, moving everything from Minooka on down by 15 minutes.

Mater Dei has hired Doug Schaffer as their new Director of Bands. He was formerly at St. Pius X Catholic, Wright City, Mark Twain and Laquey, all in Missouri.

Collinsville is open.

Also, U of I has released the schedule. 1A-3A: https://ilmarching.com/festivals_detail.php?FestivalID=1283&archive=0 4A-6A: https://ilmarching.com/festivals_detail.php?FestivalID=1283&archive=0

I was going to try and get around to this in the next week or two. Add in a few out of staters: Lake Central, IN will be attending Lake Park and Victor J. Andrew. Davenport Central, IA is doing VJA, CMBF and NIU.

Here's an interesting one: Washington is attending, according to their calendar. Don't know the last time (ever?) they've attended.

SIU: September 27th That leaves (I believe) us looking for dates for Robinson and Rich Township.

James Hairston will be joining Waubonsie Valley from Hendrickson in Texas, presumably as Director of Bands. Kevin Carroll is retiring, and there will be a SECOND opening for the 2026-2027 year as there will be another retirement. His biography from Hendrickson's site:

Hearing there might be others as well.

U of I schedules: 1A-3A: https://ilmarching.com/festivals_detail.php?FestivalID=1283&archive=0 4A-6A: https://ilmarching.com/festivals_detail.php?FestivalID=1284&archive=0

O'Fallon might be a possibility; Lincoln-Way is not attending according to their registration handouts. This is what has been dredged up for attendees thus far, while patiently waiting for ISU to update their site: Batavia Collinsville Downers Grove South Edwardsville Illinois Valley Central John Hersey Lemont Limestone Community Macomb Morton Normal Oswego Oswego East Paris Cooperative Plainfield Central Plainfield North Romeoville Victor J. Andrew Warren Township

Lockport, Normal, Oswego, Oswego East, Warren and whoever else! 🙂

Still going through it. I have a spreadsheet of scores/word document of information compiled through 1980. 3 more years to go!