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The Helena High School Marching Band premiered their 2019-20 halftime field show the night of Tuesday, Aug. 20 at Husky Stadium. (Reporter Photos/Keith McCoy)

By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA – Helena High School band parents, fans and more made their way to Husky Stadium the night of Tuesday, Aug. 20, to get a first glimpse of what will be heard at halftime during the 2019 high school football season, as the Helena High School Marching Band premiered its halftime show to the public for the first time.

After working for hours during the hottest months of the year perfecting choreography and songs while also dodging storms at band camp this summer, the HHS Marching Band was ready to take the field to show off the hard work.

The threat of rain held off on Aug. 20, as 207 band members took their places on the brand-new turf recently installed at Husky Stadium earlier this summer, which has also positively affected the band.

Helena High School Band Director Jeff Burnside spoke of how the new field turf has impacted the band program.

“Today we were able to practice without damaging the field because if we march in the same spot and do the show two or three times then everywhere we’ve been you can see it, so the new field will benefit a lot more than just athletics,” Burnside said. “It affects football, track, soccer, band and when we host the showcase every other year, it will just bring a lot of pluses. We can’t be more thankful to the city of Helena.”

As for the actual field show, the 2019 show is titled, “From Ordinary to Extraordinary” and music in the show includes the theme songs from “Captain America,” “Iron Man 3,” “I Can Go the Distance,” from Hercules and the theme from “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.”

The 2019-2020 Helena High School Marching Band is under the field direction of drum majors Ross Tolbert, Alex Chuang and Eliana Leonard, color guard captains Madison Corley and Gia Sarris, dance team captains Meagan Ingram and Megan Calvert, majorette captains Aliyah Merchant and Peyton Owens and band captains Chris Wilson and Lilly Lowery.

There will be five opportunities for fans to see the Helena High School Marching Band perform at halftime during home games at Husky Stadium this season.

“I’m really pleased, they’ve worked extremely hard and certainly much further along than we thought we would be when we got started,” Burnside said.

The Helena High School varsity football team will open the season on Friday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m. at home against McAdory where the band will perform the field show at halftime.

For more information on the Helena High School Marching Band, visit Helenahighband.com.

To view or purchase photos, visit Shelbycountyphotos.com.

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