The pounding rhythm of a marching band drum line provided the heartbeat of Martin Luther King Jr. memorial weekend celebrations in downtown Wilmington.
The drumbeats began Sunday, Jan. 18, around 4 p.m. near Cape Fear Community College’s Schwartz Center. The marching bands from Elizabeth City State University and North Carolina Central University stood outside, preparing to face off in the Historically Black College or University (HBCU) Experience Battle of the Bands.
But before the bands could fill the stadium with their thunderous, rousing repertoire of hit music, the Schwartz Center hosted a college fair for high school students. Representatives from North Carolina Central University, Norfolk State University, Winston Salem State University, Spelmen College, Morehouse College, University of North Carolina Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College set up booths to provide information.
“It was dynamite for our first year doing it,” MLK parade organizer Hollis Briggs said. “We asked the colleges to drop their application fees for the kids that were signing up.”
The event was designed to inspire kids to attend college, and to do so as a member of the marching band. Briggs said last year several high school marching band students watched the Battle of the Bands and subsequently enrolled in Elizabeth City State University and its marching band program.
The 2014 inaugural event was held in the Williston Middle School gymnasium, but it was so popular organizers moved it to the Schwartz Center this year. Even with the larger stadium the event sold out.
“We’re going to have to get a bigger venue next year,” Briggs said.
The crash of symbols and the thump of bass drums picked up again Monday morning, Jan. 19. A cacophony of percussion spread throughout downtown Wilmington as several high school marching bands joined Elizabeth City State University in the MLK Jr. Parade. The bands were evenly spaced throughout the 2-hour parade with the college band providing the grand finale.
Around 30 young children from the Community Boys & Girls Club of Wilmington Drum and Drill team took their place in the parade lineup, marching and drumming in an enthusiastic imitation of their college-age counterparts.
Program coordinator Jamel Conyers said the kids had been talking about the Battle of the Bands since attending the event the previous day and they woke up early Sunday morning to practice.
“It’s a different experience when you see it in person from when you see it on TV,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll be inspired to go to college and do it themselves.”
Or, like Battle of the Bands organizer and Community Boys & Girls Club of Wilmington alumni Frankie Pollock Jr., they might stay involved in marching band even after college, passing their knowledge on to future generations.
“That’s why he became a band director,” Briggs said. “And that’s why we have the HBCU [Battle of the Bands].”
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