Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival

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The Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival (formerly Daily Mail) is an annual festival dedicated to the public high school marching bands and majorette corps in Kanawha County, West Virginia. It is the longest running music festival in West Virginia and is held at the University of Charleston Stadium at Laidley Field in Charleston at the end of September each year, typically the last Tuesday. The first event was held in 1947 and was attended by nearly 25,000 people. [1] The event was originally sponsored by the Charleston Daily Mail newspaper, but is now sponsored by the Charleston Gazette-Mail after the Daily Mail merged with the Charleston Gazette in 2015. The event was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 festival was the event's 77th anniversary and the Festival Grand Champion was Sissonville High School.

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The JoAnn Jarrett Holland Memorial Scholarship Fund

A $2,500 scholarship was awarded to the girl who placed first in the feature twirler competition. This was an annual award given each year at the festival. The scholarship honored the memory of JoAnn Jarrett Holland, who won the competition in 1949 and 1950. Not only did she excel at this event, but she also supported it by attending the festival each year for the rest of her life. In 1973 her daughter, Kathi Holland Burton, won this competition and went on to be the feature twirler at West Virginia University for seven years. This award has since been discontinued.

WVU and Marshall exhibition shows

Every year, the Majorette and Band Festival has an exhibition show following the final high school performance before the awards ceremony. This exhibition show features one of West Virginia's only two NCAA Division I college marching bands. Originally, on the odd numbered years, West Virginia University's marching band, "The Pride of West Virginia", would perform in exhibition while Marshall University's marching band, "The Marching Thunder Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine " [2] would perform on the even numbered years. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 switched this, as a festival was not held that year, with WVU now performing on the even numbered years and Marshall on the odd numbered ones.

WVU's marching band began performing for the festival in 2003, [3] while Marshall's marching band began performing for the festival in 2004. [4] The festival acts as a great recruitment opportunity for both bands.

High school bands

There are currently eight public high schools in Kanawha County, West Virginia. All participate in the festival.

Current High Schools:

Former High Schools:

Previous Miss Kanawha Majorettes

The title of Miss Kanawha Majorette is awarded to the one girl who is the outstanding majorette of the evening of those competing in the category. The first girl to be named Miss Kanawha Majorette was Dolores Thompson in 1947. An annual tradition of being named Miss Kanawha Majorette is returning the next year to present the award to that year's Miss Kanawha Majorette with the trophy, tiara, and bouquet of flowers. A girl cannot be named Miss Kanawha Majorette for two consecutive years, however, it is possible for a girl to be named it twice.

Juliana Kemp from South Charleston High School is the only majorette to win the title of Miss Kanawha Majorette twice, once in 2003 and again in 2005. She went on to become the Feature Twirler for West Virginia State University's "Marching Swarm" from 2006 to 2008. Another former Miss Kanawha Majorette also went on to become the Feature Twirler for West Virginia State University. Miss Kanawha Majorette 2006, Stevi Ryder, was their Feature Twirler for 2010 and was a co-Feature Twirler for 2011 and 2012.

South Charleston High School has had the most Miss Kanawha Majorette wins with a total of 10 (they had nine different girls win the title with one girl, Juliana Kemp, winning it twice). Next to them is Herbert Hoover High School with nine; then Sissonville High School and the former DuPont High School with eight; George Washington High School and the former Charleston High School with seven; St. Albans High School, Capital High School, and the former Stonewall Jackson High School are tied with six; Riverside High School has three; and Nitro High School and the former Dunbar High School and East Bank High School are tied at two.

Previous Festival Grand Champions

Before 1970, there was no award for Festival Grand Champion. That year was the first year the championship was awarded and Herbert Hoover High School was the first school to win the Festival Grand Championship. Prior to 2013, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was played by the previous year's Festival Grand Champion; beginning that year, the competing bands combined perform the National Anthem.

Capital High School is the only school to have won the Festival Grand Championship for 11 consecutive years (2004–2014). The second most consecutive wins is five, which is tied by Herbert Hoover High School (1980–1984) and George Washington High School (2017–2019, 2021–2022; a festival was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Capital High School also has the most total wins at 18. Next to them is George Washington High School with 13 wins; then Herbert Hoover High School with nine wins; Nitro High School with four; St. Albans High School and the former DuPont High School with three wins; Sissonville High School with two; and the former Charleston High School with one win. South Charleston High School, Riverside High School, and the former Dunbar High School, East Bank High School, and Stonewall Jackson High School have never won the Festival Grand Championship.

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References

  1. ↑ Ray, Leann (September 23, 2016). "Looking at 70 years of the Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette Festival". Charleston Gazette-Mail . Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Marshall University Marching Thunder". Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  3. ↑ "WVU marching band set to take field at majorette festival". WVU Pressbox.
  4. ↑ Harold, Zack (2010-09-09). "Marshall band will have big presence at Majorette Festival". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  5. 1 2 Perham, Ashley (September 26, 2023). "76th Majorette & Band Festival: Sissonville named Grand Champion, GW twirler crowned Miss Majorette". Charleston Gazette-Mail . Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  6. ↑ writer, Caity Coyne Staff (24 September 2019). "GW takes title for third year at 73rd majorette & band festival". Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  7. 1 2 Gardner, Jennifer (September 25, 2018). "Riverside's Gabbie Mullins crowned Miss Kanawha Majorette". Charleston Gazette-Mail . Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Lammers, Carlee (September 26, 2017). "Capital's Carnell crowned Miss Kanawha Majorette". Charleston Gazette-Mail . Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  9. 1 2 Jarvis, Jake (September 28, 2016). "GW twirler Carrie Long wins majorette prize; Capital is grand champion". Charleston Gazette-Mail . Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Speciale, Samuel (September 22, 2015). "Nitro ends Capital's reign atop Kanawha band competition". Charleston Gazette-Mail . Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival winners". The Charleston Gazette. 2010-09-28. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  12. 1 2 "Majorette and Band Festival winners - Page 2". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 2010-04-07.
  13. 1 2 "Miss Kanawha Majorette awestruck over crowning achievement". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  14. ↑ "Twirler amazed to win title, Herbert Hoover senior crowned this years Miss Kanawha Majorette". encyclopedia.com.
  15. 1 2 Karmasek, Jessica M. (September 27, 2006). "Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival: Fourth time's a charm; Hoover senior takes Miss Kanawha Majorette title after 4 years of competition". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  16. 1 2 "MAJORETTE WINS AGAIN: South Charleston's Julina Kemp takes home another title". encyclopedia.com.
  17. 1 2 "Article: Twirler's dream comes true: Riverside majorette has wanted top honor since she was a child". highbeam.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-02.
  18. ↑ "Miss Modest". encyclopedia.com.

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