Jamestown High School marching band members performed a sample concert for community members at Stryder Field Friday.

The Jamestown High School’s award-winning marching band and color guard members performed a free, open to the public, sampling of this year’s planned performance and routines to showcase the band’s efforts in the weeks leading up to the school year.

The JHS marching band has a history dating back as far as 1924 that includes representing New York state at the Festival of States in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1982 and 1988; the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (1984, 1989 and 1995; two national television appearances on the David Letterman Show and in 1995 they appeared on NBC’s The Today Show; a 2007 trip to Orlando, Fla., to perform in the nationally televised Citrus Parade and Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World; the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City (2010) and Chicago (2017); the Electric Light Parade in the Magic Kingdom in 2012 and 2014; the Magic Kingdom’s New Year’s Eve Parade 2019 as well as five state Field Band Conference Championship titles in 1992 (Class AAA), 2002, 2014, 2015 and 2018.

That rich history is not lost on the band or the band’s current director.

“We have a long and storied history of performing at the highest levels,” said Meghan Murray, band director for Jamestown High School, since 2006. “The kids have been working extremely hard this year, not only practicing, but making props for our upcoming performances.”

The close to 30-minute performance not only included warm-up routines, but also the actual music, artistic flag handling and rifle drills, but told a story.

“The large, wooden construct you see on the football field is like a bridge or a doorway, as it changes locations imagine you’re being transported to a different part of the story with us,” Murray said.

JHS Band will be performing with the high school football team and various other performances this year.