One by one, 23 junior high and high school marching bands paraded down Dolliver Street in Pismo Beach Saturday, cracking the warm, quiet beach air with the sounds of horns and drums and the swish of flags.

Bands from throughout Central and Southern California took part in the 30th Annual Pismo Beach Marching Band Review, sponsored by the Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce in partnership with a number of local businesses.

Awards were broken down into separate junior high and high school categories, and, beyond the overall awards, recognized the best bands by class size.

Auxiliary honors were also given for positions including: drum major, tall flags and solo baton.

Seven judges, many of them band directors from the Central Valley, selected the winners, said Gary Thompson, the announcer at the band review and the recently retired longtime band director at Hancock College.

The competition was open to all junior high and high school bands.

The results of the competition were not available Saturday evening.

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Thompson said the number of participating bands, 23, was down a bit from previous years. He guessed that the struggling economy may have affected the turnout, with bands not able to afford the travel costs.

Thompson said the review was “very nice.”

Some bands were better than others, he said, but “everybody had a lot of enthusiasm.”

San Luis Obispo High School competed in the band review, as did Judkins Middle School in Pismo Beach and Paulding Middle School in Arroyo Grande.

Having gathered with their fellow musicians at the Pismo pier following their turn before the judges, members of the San Luis Obispo High School marching band said they were pleased with their performance.

“I think we did really well,” said San Luis Obispo High sophomore Serrina Ruggles, who plays the alto saxophone.

“We actually got the diagonal, which I’m happy about,” she said, referring to diagonal lines formed by the band as they march.

Kamauri Clemons, a sophomore at San Luis Obispo High, held the school’s banner along with freshman Kevin Siegel as part of the band.

He said the performance was balanced, without any one person noticeable over the others.

“Nobody’s sticking out,” Clemons said.

Observers of the review lined Dolliver, some seated in lawn chairs.

Not all those who watched the performances knew participants.

Jim Theis of Santa Ana was in the area Saturday, and decided to check out the review.

He said that having spent almost 30 years in the military, he enjoys “anything that marches.”

The performances were of pretty good quality, he said, adding, ““It’s good to see kids having fun.”

November 9, 2008