Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival

The Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival (formerly Daily Mail) is an annual festival dedicated to the public high school bands and majorette corps in Kanawha County, West Virginia. The event is held at the University of Charleston Stadium at Laidley Field in Charleston, West Virginia at the end of September of each year. The first event was held in 1947, and was attended by nearly 25,000 people. In past years, "The Star Spangled Banner" was played by the previous year's Festival Grand Champion. Beginning in 2013, all eight competing bands combined perform the National Anthem. The 2017 Festival Grand Champion was George Washington High School. The event was 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. It is the longest running music festival in West Virginia. 2017 was the 71st anniversary of the festival.

A $2,500 scholarship is awarded to the girl who places first in the feature twirler competition. This is an annual award given each year at the festival. This scholarship honors 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.

Every year, the Majorette and Band Festival has an exhibition show following the final high school performance before the awards ceremony. On the odd numbered years, West Virginia University's marching band, "The Pride of West Virginia," does one of their exhibition shows and on the even numbered years, Marshall University's marching band, "The Marching Thunder," does one of their exhibition shows.

...
Wikipedia