October 11, 2026 Band Notes

Pay any overdue experience fees #1 and #2.
Purchase car raffle tickets 2026 Car Raffle Ticket Order Form, and spread the word about this fundraiser.
Order your memory book by October 27 for a 10% discount. Order form
Attend Friday’s special announcement at 6pm in the stadium.

NEW INFORMATION

Mason Invitational Congrats

Congratulations to the Worthington Kilbourne HS Marching Band for being awarded Grand Champion at yesterday’s MSBA Mason Invitational!

Let’s be honest: the weather was rough. The rain poured down for much of the day, and it would have been easy to be miserable. But we showed up anyway. Through the soggy shoes and the wet gear, you took care of our kids and every visiting band, and you made it a great day. We’re so proud of how we pulled together and stayed together for our kids and for our band.

We hosted 13 Marching Bands for our Mason Invitational. We feel incredibly honored to have had these talented bands grace our field with their incredible performances. We are also grateful to be able to share our love of music and provide an opportunity to contribute to the performing arts education of hundreds of students from surrounding communities.

An event of this magnitude is not possible without the help of many hands. Special thanks to the following:

Mason Invitational Chairs - A huge thank you for your leadership in planning and executing such a large and important event for our band program. We are so appreciative of all of you.

- Ann Higdon Wiesman
  - Kevin Upchurch (co-chair-in-training)
- Julie Chaney
- Whitley Winstanley

Band Directors- We are grateful for your support and guidance throughout the planning phase of the competition and during the event itself.

Competition Committee Leads- Special thanks to all of you for taking on the task of running the Invitational! The day went smoothly due to your leadership, flexibility, and the hard work you put in all day (not to mention the weeks before).

Alex Riley - Announcer - Mason Drum Major alum and current IU student. Alex stepped up as our voice of the competition for the very first time, and you’d never have known it. He kept everyone informed and the day moving, and he did a great job!
Kate Davis - Ticketing
Jim Mills - Concessions
Uday Kiran Gannavarapu/Avious Jackson - Tabulations/Judges
Tim Rapp - Parking
Scott Sojda - On Field Staging, Control & Exit
Chris Minniear - Band Guides, Band Check-in, and Watering Station
Alison Adduci - Bake Sale
Nancy Riley - Photography
Amanda Hrenko - Spirit booth
Kelly Hall - Candy Grams / Shout Outs
Jen Livingston - Hospitality
Blake Norfleet/Aaron Smith - Truck and Bus Parking
Shari Whited - Car Raffle
Kate Bubak - Volunteer Check-In
Lee Chaney - Ushers
Jennifer Rodway - Sponsorship
Annie & Rob Baxter - Feed the Band (so our students could eat!)

Uniform Crew- As always you worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure our kids looked sharp and pristine out on the field!

Pit Crew- You not only took care of our props and equipment but were some of the latest to stay Friday night after the game and were there first thing in the morning to help with all the heavy lifting of set up and tear down of the event. The Pit Crew also took the lead in making sure all the trucks and buses of the visiting bands were parked safely and assisted other bands with any needs they had.

Color Guard Crew- Thank you for making sure our color guard members are taken care of and look great on the field.

Announcer- Thanks to you for being the voice of the competition and making sure everyone had the information they needed throughout the day.

Photo Crew- Words cannot express how wonderful it is to have you capture the special memories of the competition so the rest of us can simply enjoy the day. Your photos are simply breathtaking!

Financial Team- Thank you for taking on the difficult task of keeping our finances in order and keeping track of our profits we make from such a large event. Your job is often unseen by others but is incredibly time consuming and important to our organization.

Mike Deardorff
Steve Sullivan

Booster Board- You all did so much behind the scenes these past several weeks. Hopefully you are able to get some much deserved rest this next week until our next big event.

Band Aids and Chaperones- Thank you for taking care of our kids. We can always trust our kids are in good hands and well cared for with you.

Every Volunteer- Thank you to all the parents, alumni, extended family, and friends who stepped up to volunteer a shift, multiple shifts, and in some cases the entire day to make sure we filled all the critical spots we needed to make the day run smoothly. We are also grateful to those who contributed yummy food and drinks for both the bake sale and for hospitality.

Trophy Sponsors- Thank you to all the families who sponsored trophies for the invitational! Your pictures are in the gallery https://masonbands.smugmug.com/Mason-Events/20261010-Mason-Invitational-Awards

Password: Welcome to Mason

More will be uploaded all throughout the week.

School administrators, facility coordinators, janitors, and other school staff- Your support and behind the scenes work did not go unnoticed.

Students- Most importantly thanks to you for putting on a fantastic performance and making us so proud! You are the reason everyone listed above goes to so much effort.

We are looking forward to doing this all again in a few weeks! More information about that will be coming soon.

Thanks again!

Special Marching Band Announcement

We have some exciting news to share about special events for the next marching band season! While we’re not quite ready to share all the details, we’re looking forward to surprising our students and families with a special announcement. If you would like to join in the excitement and celebration, plan to join us this Friday at 6:00 PM in the Stadium. Arrive between 5:45-6:00. The announcement will occur as a special announcement event from 6:00-6:30pm.

Medical Secretary Notes

A FEW REMINDERS:

Emails were sent to families with students who have self carry medications. If you would like to have us carry a back up of this medication, please contact Sally to arrange a drop off time. If your student has a self-carry inhaler and plans to use it during a run of the show during a competition, we ask that they notify the support team, so we can make arrangements to hold the inhaler during the run of the show. Thank you!
All medications go through our Medical Secretary and need to be dropped off by a parent by arranging a time with Sally McDonald, our Medical Secretary by email: MedicalSecretary -

Current Medication Drop Off Times – Please sign up on Booster Hub for a time!

BOA GRAND NATIONALS: travel 11/12 - 11/15

date/time TBD, watch Band Notes and BoosterHub for sign-ups

You can continue to submit Medication forms as the need arises. Please think ahead to get them filled out by your doctor and submitted prior to our travel dates. Click Here to access our Medication Policy (i.e. blank DMS forms and upload instructions).

Please pay your band fees!

Students with unpaid fees will not be able to sign up for hotel rooms for Grand Nationals. We know circumstances can change, so if your situation has changed, please reach out to travel@masonbandboosters.com. We’d love to work with you!

**Please note we still have not received our hotel confirmation but expect it any day now.**

Marching Band 101 for Parents - 10/11 Edition

New to Marching Band and have questions about what your student is doing or learning? Have you watched rehearsal and wondered how it all works? Each week in Marching Band 101 in Band Notes you’ll learn a little something new.

Awesome Professional Photos of Your Musician

Did you know there is a whole team of photographers who attend rehearsals, events, performances, and competitions with the sole purpose of capturing images for the band program and families? Not only does Photo Corps put together a marvelous memory book, they also make hundreds of beautiful, high quality images available for you to access individually in Smug Mug. They are organized by event and also by section making it easy for you to locate your student. The Smug Mug site is password protected for our students’ privacy. You can find the password in BoosterHub under Files. Continue to revisit the Smug Mug site throughout the season as new images are uploaded. There are some special moments captured in those images! Enjoy!

If you are looking for the award pictures from the Mason Invitational, they are at this link

https://masonbands.smugmug.com/Mason-Events/20261010-Mason-Invitational-Awards

Password: Welcome to Mason

We keep these apart from our regular photos so we can give access to visiting bands.

Website Tip:

As the season goes on you’ll see and hear a lot of acronyms used when discussing competitions. The Mason Bands website contains a helpful Glossary of Acronyms. Check it out!

REMINDERS

Order Your Memory Book by October 27!

Every year, the Photo Corps puts together a memory book to celebrate the season, covering band camps, rehearsals, games, competitions, and behind-the-scene moments. This year’s memory book will be a soft cover book with approximately 70 pages. If you order by October 27, you have the option to create your own custom pages to make sure your students have their favorite pictures featured!

Books are $50 if ordered by October 27, 2025. After that, the price increases to $55.

memory book order form

Grand Nats Booster Meeting - Save the Date

Our next General Booster Meeting will be on Thursday, October 29, at 7pm. This is a CRITICAL meeting, as this will be our last parent meeting prior to Grand Nats.

Spirit Updates

A huge thank you to all of our amazing volunteers who helped assemble 8th Grade Night swag bags and supported the spirit booth! From setting up and breaking down to helping customers and keeping sales running smoothly, your time and hard work made a big difference. We couldn’t do it without you, and we truly appreciate everyone who pitched in to support our band!

Picture Yourself in a Brand New Audi!!!!

This HOT 2026 Audi Q3 could be yours!

Mason Band Boosters is thrilled to announce we will once again be partnering with Audi Cincinnati East for our 2026 Car Raffle. A HUGE thank you to them for the donation! We are very excited!

This fundraiser is a very important one for our organization as it helps provide some much needed funds to help with the expenses of our program as well as allows us to reach outside of our band family and community to help raise funds!

We Need Each And Every Family To Help Reach Our Goal Of Selling 4,000 Tickets And To Give Away This Fabulous Vehicle Or A Cash Prize!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW

Raffle Period - Raffle runs NOW until November 6th at 5pm OR until 4,000 tickets are sold...whichever comes first!

Drawing - Saturday, November 7th, 2026 at the MSBA AAAAA Championships, hosted at Mason. Need not be present to win!

Prizes -

Grand Prize - 2026 Audi Q3 or a cash prize!
2nd Place Prize - $1000 cash
3rd Place Prize - $500 Cash

Car Raffle Rules And Regulations - Please Click Here for complete Car Raffle rules and regulations. Must be 18 years of age or older and a Resident of Ohio to purchase or be named on the ticket.

Ticket Prices - 1 ticket-$25 or 5 for $100 (to same individual)

Note: If purchasing a bundle, all tickets in the bundle must have the same name, address and phone number with them.

Ticket Purchases - Tickets can be purchased two ways:

Online via the 2026 Car Raffle Ticket Order Form
In person at home football games and the Mason Invitational

Band Family Sales - We are NOT distributing paper tickets to band families this year, but we are still asking each family to sell (or buy) at least 13 tickets to help make this a successful fundraiser.

Please share the link and QR code with family and friends. Feel free to share it via social media as well.

Information regarding the Car Raffle can be found on our website here.

Questions? - Please direct those to carraffle@masonbandboosters.com.

Competition Subcommittee Leads Needed

The competition committee is in need of your help! We are looking for subcommittee leads to handle several different areas for the MSBA Championship on 11/7.

Competitions are an important fundraiser for the boosters, but most importantly provide a high quality competition experience for the many bands and students we host. Subcommittee leads are vital to making sure we continue our reputation as one of the best marching band competitions in the area. Please note that shadow positions will learn the ropes from current leads who have seniors, with the shadow taking over the role next year.

Areas with Shadowing Needs:

Band Check-In/Band Guides/Water Station
Programs
Awards/Trophies
Spectator Parking
Shout out/Candy Grams
Ushers

Please email the competition committee at competitions@masonbandboosters.com for more information.

Secret Buddy

Secret buddy is a fun and completely optional way for your child to spread a little happiness while giving (and receiving) treats. Students will “gift” their secret buddy snacks/treats and drinks throughout the season on selected dates - see below. Signed-up students will now be paired up with a buddy. Data submitted on the sign up form by your child’s buddy will be shared in order for your student to find out more about snack/treat preferences and any allergies or dietary concerns. Buddy information will be shared to students via email no later than August 28th.

If your child wants to be a buddy, please make sure they take good care of their buddy!

Also, it’s more fun to try to keep your identity secret until Grand Nationals.

There are three remaining Secret Buddy exchanges this season:

Oct 23 - Friday Home Football Game
Nov 07 - Saturday MSBA Championship
Nov 13 - Friday BOA Grand Nationals

Any questions, please reach out to vp-studentexperience@masonbandboosters.com.

2026 Marching Band Registration Forms Are Live

The Marching Band 2026 Registration Guide is now live!

The Registration Guide has detailed information about each step in the process.

Marching Band Registration Next Steps:

Due October 1 (postponed until Grand Nats hotel is confirmed):

Student Experience Fee #3, to Mason Band Boosters

Invoice will be sent out via email from: quickbooks@notification.intuit.com

PAST DUE:

MB 2026 COMMITMENT FORM
Marching Band School Fee #1, $400 via PaySchools Central or check to Mason City Schools
Marching Band School Fee #2, $400 via PaySchools Central or check to Mason City Schools
Consumables Form and Payment

Marching Band School Fee #3, $400 via PaySchools Central or check to Mason City Schools
Student Experience Fee #1, $400 to Mason Band Boosters

Invoice were sent on 7/12 via email from: quickbooks@notification.intuit.com

Student Experience Fee #2, $400 to Mason Band Boosters

Invoices were sent on 8/16 via email from: quickbooks@notification.intuit.com

FINAL FORMS

Fill out all forms - be sure to switch to 2026-2027
Upload a current physical - blank physical form

Complete Student Care Forms

Accept BoosterHub Invite (new families)

Other Marching Band Documents:

IMPORTANT: For all payments by check - please include the student’s name and student ID and the fee you are paying on the memo line of the check. Example: “Jane Doe 987654 Band Fee 1”

School fees are available in PaySchools Central. You will find the fees under Performing Arts. Scroll to the bottom of that section and look for the ones that start with "NEXT SEASON". All three school fees are live and payable, with the due date for each listed in the name.