On Wednesday, April 18th, the Wauwatosa West band joined several other schools in the First Annual Wauwatosa All City Band Festival, performed inside the State Fair’s Exposition Center
Wauwatosa West performed alongside bands from Wauwatosa East, Longfellow, Whitman, Eisenhower, and from the elementary schools: Roosevelt, Madison, McKinley, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Underwood, and Washington. All together, the schools combined to several hundred band students. Even this huge number was dwarfed by the massive size of the Expo Center.

This was a cause of concern for some, including Jay Schalk, a band student from East. “It’s a good idea, but it’s not well executed,” said Schalk, “because the acoustics in here aren’t good at all.”

The West and East band played several songs together, and the middle school bands had theirs, as did the elementary schools. When the festival was done, most students thought the concert went well, even with the bad sound qualities of the Expo Center. “I think it went well,” said John Paetsch, also from East, “and better than I expected.”

West’s band director, Guy Kammerer, felt the same way, saying, “I think it was awesome!” He elaborated, saying that “we didn’t know what to expect, and things could have gone wrong, but nothing did: the kids played well, and everyone did their jobs.” Asked whether this festival would be repeated next year, Kammerer said, “That’s definitely the plan.”