Winter Winds Seized the Day at State Finals!

Woodlan Winter Winds had a rare opportunity to sleep in a bit on the morning of IPA State Finals and didn’t need to meet for practice until 10am on Saturday, March 18, 2023. After a morning of practice, the students were served a lunch of hamburgers, pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, chips, and cookies. The students loaded onto the bus in the afternoon and made their way to Avon High School in Indianapolis. They were greeted by the coldest and windiest day of the season when they arrived. The wind was crazy and bitingly cold… how appropriate for the Winter Winds State Finals! The students had their group photo taken before heading to warm-ups.

The woodwinds had a sectional breakfast together at Bob Evans, though not everyone could make it.

Running through the show during the last practice of the season!

It was so cold and windy for State Finals, and there were snow flurries too. It was bitter cold!

Joie and Jason tried not to blow away!

Cody promised to wear the newspaper earrings at State Finals!

The Pit Crew parents this season at warmups:

Back Row: Jeff Walter, Brandi Walter, Nathan Miller, Dave Bufink, and Mike McFeters

Front Row: Jason Harber, Sarah Harber, Apryl Hoot, Mitch Hoot, John Crilly, Amy Crilly

Woodlan Winter Winds did an incredible job on their final performance of this season. There was a huge crowd applauding and cheering for them. Their show is undoubtedly one of the most fun shows and well-loved by fellow performers, judges, and spectators. Winter Winds put on a performance that they could be proud of and finished their season strong. After their performance, they got dinner and watched some of the Open and World Class Winds groups (WOW!)

What a fantastic, fun show!

The staff this season: Eli Neeley, Cody Groves, Derick Hershberger, Nathan Spellman, Sean Burton

As this was the State Finals for IPA Winter Winds, all performers gathered on the floor for a Full Retreat for the Award Ceremony. This is always an impressive sight! At the Awards Ceremony, Woodlan Winter Winds placed 5th in the state in Winds Scholastic A Class. The crowd cheered proudly for these amazing performers, and the students all felt very proud of their work this season.

The results for Winds Scholastic A Class:

1. Kokomo Indoor Winds

2. Ben Davis Winter Winds

3. Washington Winds

4. Lake Central Winds

5. Woodlan Winter Winds

6. Clay City Winter Winds

7. Owen Valley Indoor

Being the first year Woodlan has performed in the Winds Division, this group learned a lot and represented our district fantastically. We are all grateful for the students who joined Woodlan students this season from both New Haven High School and Heritage High School. What lovely students that contributed so much to this group! Many of the parents have discussed how neat it is to see music unite these students, and how easily the students came in from other schools and made great friendships and fit in so quickly and nicely with the group. We all hope they will come back next year (the ones that don’t graduate this year!) and bring some friends!

Friday night, March 24th, many of the Winter Winds students and parents met in the barn at Nicki & Mike McFeter’s house. They were gracious enough to host the “banquet” again this year. The students enjoyed gathering again for the last time this season to share dinner, cards, and conversation together. It was a fun night and a great way to wrap up the season.

So, what’s next? Well, in the band world, you know it’s always something! Woodlan Winter Guard plans to have a banquet to finish their season off on April 15th. The students are all planning to enjoy a little downtime (What’s that?) and maybe actually a dinner at home on the rare occasion. But before they get too cozy, marching band practices will be starting soon, rumored to be toward the end of April. And they will begin again preparing for another great marching season. Bravo to both of our winter programs for a job WELL done!!!