Blue Devil Band Plans 75th Anniversary Alumni Reunion
Created by music teacher James Doty in 1934, the Huntington High School band will celebrate its 75th anniversary this fall at Homecoming Weekend, October 16-17, with a rehearsal, parade, on-field performance and social event, bringing together alumni and current band members.
Festivities for marching band alumni will include a rehearsal Friday, October 16 from 7-10 p.m. at the high school, another rehearsal Saturday, October 17 from 8:30-10:30 a.m., followed by the Homecoming Day parade through Huntington village, which will kick-off at 11:30 a.m. The alumni band will march as a distinct group.
Alumni members will join the current Blue Devil band for a performance of the national anthem prior to the 2 p.m. start of Saturday’s football game against Harborfields. A social event is planned for Saturday evening. Details will be released at a later date.
The celebration is being planned by a group of music department faculty members, the Band Parents Assn. and Blue Devil band alumni. More than 100 band alumni have already committed to participating in the Homecoming Day parade. Alumni can borrow instruments from the school, if needed, said Joan R. Fretz, director of fine and performing arts, who is helping to organize the anniversary celebration.
Band anniversary polo shirts, featuring a special logo, will be on sale for $25. The shirts are required for all alumni members performing with the band. Commemorative anniversary tee-shirts will also be available for $15. For more information about T-shirt orders contact Jen Schmelter at (631) 421-1101 or jasteach@verizon.net.
T-shirt order and alumni band registration forms are available by logging onto the district’s website at www.hufsd.edu and clicking on the link for “The Arts” and then on “Forms and Files.”
The general anniversary logo and a separate special one for the alumni band are the result of collaborative efforts of band parents Daphine Harkins (preliminary design), Steve Corrao (preliminary scanning) and Denise Corazon-Moore and Allyson Uttendorfer (graphic artists, final logo design).
Alumni can obtain more information about the anniversary events by contacting former longtime Blue Devil band director Linda Shoemaker at (631) 549-1033 or (631) 456-2186 or lshoemak@verizon.net. Event updates will also be posted at the Band Parents Assn. site at www.bluedevils.eboard.com.
Another anniversary event is being planned for the late spring in 2010 over a two-day period in the high school auditorium. The tentative schedule will see alumni gather on Friday night, June 4 and Saturday afternoon, June 5 to rehearse for an evening concert band performance on June 5th. Members of Huntington’s Class of 2010 will be invited to participate along with the alumni members.
The first Huntington High School band was open to boys and girls in all four classes, according to the 1936 edition of The Huntingtonian, the high school yearbook. “Although newly organized, this group has worked very hard and with the cooperation of the student body, the band members have received blue and white uniforms. They gave a new feeling of school spirit to all of the occasions at which they appeared this year,” the yearbook states.
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