Bands Flock to Town for Columbus Marching Festival

COLUMBUS - Bands from around the state flocked to Columbus over the weekend to compete in the annual Columbus Marching Festival. If you drove through Pawnee Park on Saturday, their was a good chance you ran across a heard of musicians prepping for the big show. Columbus High Band Director Jeff Peabody says the amount of teams participating in the event fluctuates each year, and says 10 bands competed in this year's competition. "The community is so supportive of it, that it makes it worth while to hold year after year. There have been a lot of changes with wha marching bands have done, over the last several years, and so some years we have 16 to 20 bands, some years like this year we have 10, but regardless the community comes out and is supportive of it," says Peabody. Bands competed throughout the afternoon on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Pawnee Park. Bands from Grand Island, Aurora, Fremont, as well as multiple bands from Columbus participated in the days festivities.