BAND FEST COMPETITION 2009 A RESOUNDING SUCCESS IN THE WESTERN TWIN TOWNS OF BELIZE.

The Succotz Marching Band won the BAND FEST competition of 2009, held in San Ignacio of Western Belize.




LAST SATURDAY WAS THE BELIZE NATIONAL BAND FEST COMPETITION FOR APRIL 2009.

High school bands came from all over the small nation of Belize in all the six districts comprising the country. Competition was keen. The Saturday was also market day for all the rural agriculture people that usually come into the crowded Macal River side market anyway. The football stadium of the Western Twin Towns is just across the street from the Macal River market and consequently traffic congestion was at an all time high, with no parking available in the vicinity. San Ignacio was originally a CHICLE chewing gum town, that had streets built for mule trains in my youth. The streets are still narrow and single lane. For the amount of traffic on a Saturday busy market, traffic is always horrendous, but last Saturday it was quadrupled in congestion, with chartered buses bringing high school marching bands, majorettes and others from all over the small nation of Belize. Belize is a 100 miles wide and 200 miles long thereabouts. A third of the country is uninhabited interior jungle reserves. Population about 300,000 people all told. Of which 80% are under 15 years old. With parents and grandparents and family vehicles also coming to see their children perform on the football stadium field, the congestion was unbelievable. The day was one of hot sun. Summer had just started. In Belize our summer is during April and May, while in temperate zones up north, the summer is July and August in places like Canada. The competitions went on all the long hot summer day. An exciting time was had by all and in the evening as dusk fell, the last buses of the winners and finalists rolled out going East on the narrow Western Highway with high school band students still proud and in high excitement, hanging out of the school bus windows, yelling for all their worth, about the many trophies and competitions wins that they had made. Prizes went for music, costumes, choreography and a host of such scoring systems by the various judges. An exhausting day, but a happy day and a very big moment in the lives of the High School youth of the nation of Belize.