Annual Grasso Festival To Highlight Local Marching Bands And Color Guards October 6

By Eliza Hallabeck

With the Newtown High School Marching Band & Guard’s annual Joseph P. Grasso Festival scheduled for Saturday, October 6, NHS Band Director Kurt Eckhardt is excited.

“We have a really great band this year, so I am very excited to have an opportunity for the community to see them,” said Mr Eckhardt this week, “and, of course, the other bands we are hosting.”

This year’s event, which is set to kick off at 6 pm, will mark the 16th Annual  Joseph P. Grasso Festival, Newtown’s annual “home show” of the US Scholastic Band Association Marching Band and Guard competition. The event is scheduled to end at 8:30 pm.

Along with the NHS Marching Band & Guard, bands and marching guards from Trumbull, Monroe, Norwalk, Shelton, Bethel, and Milford are scheduled to participate.

The Grasso Festival is a fundraiser for the NHS Marching Band & Guard. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens. Children 5 years old and younger are admitted for free.

This year’s the NHS Marching Band & Guard’s show has a twist, promised Mr Eckhardt. The show is called “Arcanum,” and it has a spy theme. Each song, Mr Eckhardt said, was chosen for its association with the theme.

Flute player Annemarie LaRussa came up with the idea for the theme, and Mr Eckhardt said Arcanum received the most support.

Arcanum has four movements to it, with each movement displaying an aspect of the spy theme. In the past Mr Eckhardt said music has been chosen based on what he thinks will play to a band’s strengths, but, with more and more marching bands and guards using themes, the staff supported the spy theme idea.

“We feel our music this year is very exciting, very attractive,” said Mr Eckhardt.

Along with the October 6 Grasso Festival, Mr Eckhardt said the band has other exciting events scheduled for this season. Also in October, the band will be participating in a US Scholastic Band Association competition at MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and Jets football teams, and will be traveling to Towson University in Maryland to compete in a Bands of America competition.

The competition at Towson University will include some of the top bands, Mr Eckhardt said. “I feel that this year our band is up to the challenge.”

Both the marching band and color guard are strong this year, according to the band director.

“We have a particularly strong senior class this year,” he said, adding that the band, guard members, NHS faculty, and everyone associated have been excited for this season and Arcanum since last spring.

“This may be the strongest band we’ve ever had here,” said Mr Eckhardt. “We’ll see how they continue to work and continue to grow.”

While the October 6 Grasso Festival will raise funds for the marching band and guard, Mr Eckhardt said the group is constantly raising funds. More information is available at www.newtownband-guard.com, including a schedule of this year’s competitions.

Other upcoming competitions include the October 13 event at MetLife Stadium, an October 20 Musical Arts Conference (MAC) competition at Shelton High School, the October 26–28 trip to Towson University, and two competitions on November 3, a MAC competition at Norwalk High School and a New England Championships event at Kennedy Stadium.