ALLENDALE — The Allendale High School (AHS) Marching Band has done well through the years, but never has the band had the success that it did this season.

In Michigan, high school marching bands have the opportunity to compete in invitationals held throughout their region, generally in the months of September and October. Band directors pick and choose competitions that work with their schedules. Typically it is unknown which schools will be in attendance until a couple of weeks before a given event.

At each invitational, area bands vie for top scoring in four individual categories, termed "captions," which include Best Music, Best Marching, Best Percussion, and Best Color Guard (also called Auxiliary). Awards also are given for school class and for Grand Champion, which is top overall.

For the first time in school history, the AHS Marching Band won the Grand Champion award. And not just once, twice.

Under Band Director Ryan Broome, the AHS Marching Band competed in three invitationals this year.

1. Grand Haven Marching Band Invitational: AHS placed first in Class B and took the caption awards for Best Marching and Best Music. The band placed second overall, losing only to Class A Reeths-Puffer.

2. Grandville Marching Band Invitational: AHS placed first in Class B, took the caption awards for Best Music, Best Marching, and, for the very first time, Best Percussion. Even more exciting, was the band’s—and the school’s—first Grand Champion title, beating out 16 competitors, including Class A schools.

3. West Shore Marching Band Invitational, hosted by Reeths-Puffer: AHS placed first in Class B, took all four caption awards: Best Marching, Best Music, Best Percussion, and Best Color Guard. And once again, beating out Class A schools. The band was the top scorer overall—though West Shore doesn’t award a Grand Champion title.

The Winning Production

The 85-member AHS band won with Serengeti Sunrise, an African savanna-inspired production featuring the songs: Circle of Life, by Elton John, Jambo Safari by On The Field Music, Africa by Toto, and The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens.

According to Broome, the music he bought for the show was packaged under the title, Sahara Sunset. The name was changed when one of the band parents pointed out that there are no lions in the Sahara Desert. Upon more reflection, it was realized that, like The Lion King, the opening number conveys a sunrise, not sunset—it’s a new day. Hence the name became Serengeti Sunrise.
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The Work Behind the Trophies

The AHS Marching Band students had a motto this year, “Earn it!” And earn it they did. “The kids worked really hard this year,” Broome said. He had told them that if they wanted to win, they would need to work hard and they would need to earn it. “I asked them regardless of what other things are going on in life, whether it's at school or at home or at work or whatever, when you're here and you're in rehearsal, just be 100% dedicated and focused to that," Broome said. "Don't think about anything else. Don't worry about anything else.”

The students listened. Broome said he didn’t really have to refocus them. They wanted to do well. And because of that, "they worked hard and got the results."

Rehearsals start in the summer, before pre camp, where the students learn the music. Then at pre camp, students start doing marching and music, but separately. Then at camp they begin to implement playing and marching with simple, repetitive movements. Eventually they are marking time and pulling it all together.

By the time the students are ready to compete, Broome steps aside, leaving the direction to the drum majors. The students do everything themselves from the moment they walk onto the field. It’s all the kids.

The Making of a Production

Broome has a team of five collaborating and bringing the productions to light.

It all starts with picking the show. In the past, music and drills have been written specifically for the band. This year Broome bought a “box show,” with music, sound effects, and licensing fees included. He found it helpful to be able to watch the performance of the school for which the music originally had been written. Broome went with similar props but wanted the uniforms and flags to be completely different. Working with FJM, a screen printing company, Broome and his team designed the uniform tops and flags. Once they saw it all come together out on the field, Broome said they were “really, really happy with what they looked like and the cool picture they were painting visually.”

Joey Wells, the assistant marching band director, took the lead on the visuals and wrote most of the body work (choreography). He implemented that into the music and taught it as the band was learning the drills.

The instructional staff included Aaron Fitch, who directed the front ensemble and wrote any needed percussion parts, Color Guard Instructor Taylor Timmer, and Drumline Instructors Isaiah Smith and Michelle Harper who worked with drumline during the summer.

Broome said each of his team members had specific responsibilities, but overall, he made the bigger decisions such as what the show would be, the broad concepts. “I like to keep a staff of people that I know and trust,” Broome said. “It’s easier for us to communicate with each other and get things done. There are some schools that are much larger that are running 20 or 30 staff members. I like to keep it to a small number.”
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Looking Ahead to Next Year

The goal with invitationals is to increase your score and get better and better. But it’s also to always try to meet the ensemble where it is. Broome said the challenge next year will be to do a harder show—harder music, harder drill, harder body work, etc. However, Broome said it will be more challenging with losing several strong seniors. His focus will be to keep doing what he’s doing and to build consistency, setting the band up for the long term. He would like to see the underclassmen playing as well as the upperclassmen.

Reflecting on why some years bands do better than others, Broome explained that there are years a director may overprogram and do too hard of a show or too hard of a drill, and the band never quite masters it. Or, some years, bands peak too early and realize they could have done a harder production. Broome said that his year the difficulty, the students, the weather, everything came together and worked well. They peaked at the right time. “We still had mistakes, even in our final run,” he said, “but we try to get as close to that perfect run as we possibly can.”

Looking at the work the students put in and the success of their season, it’s safe to say the AHS Marching Band earned it.

The 2026 performances can be seen here.