Bellevue's band to perform at Ohio Stadium

BELLEUVE — The Redmen are set to take on The Shoe in October. Bellevue High School's band announced on Monday that its students were accepted to perform at Ohio Stadium in October for the Buckeye Invitational. This will be the first time the band will perform in the third-largest stadium in the nation. Its capacity nearly reaches 103,000. Buckeye Invitational is a marching band competition sanctioned by the Ohio Music Education Association where bands earn ratings based on their performance. Because Belleuve is not a competition marching band, its students will be in the festive class, and they will not receive a rating. "Our goal each and every Friday night is to entertain the crowd, and we aim to do that in Columbus on Saturday, Oct. 11 as well," said Bellevue's band director, Chris Meadows. This year, 69 applied, but only 44 Ohio high school bands were chosen to show their talent at Ohio State University's stadium. Meadows said he and his band are very grateful and excited for the opportunity. He described it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of his band members to march in a stadium of its size. Bellevue's band began preparing for the invitational in the winter and submitted its application in the spring. After submissions from each applicant were reviewed, Bellevue Schools discovered they were chosen for the fall performance. "I was looking for a unique opportunity for our high school band students," Meadows said. "In this day and age, it is very easy for students to choose not to do extracurricular activities and not get involved," he added. "It was my hope, through unique experiences, such as this, we would motivate our students to stay involved and experience the thrill and joy that a high school band program can offer. We teach so many life skills in high school band: teamwork, responsibility, time management and hard work. We are actively making better students and better adults each year in our band program." Meadows said the band will perform one of its halftime shows from the season, but it has not been selected yet. The students perform multiple shows every year so the band will evaluate which one will be best to display in Columbus. "Our students, parents and community are very excited to see our band perform in the third-largest stadium in the country, so the crowd can expect to see over 115 Bellevue band members ready to put on their best performance of the year," Meadows said. Tickets will be available for purchase for anyone who would like to watch the performance in Columbus. More information on the performance time, the band's arrival and where spectators should park will come in the Fall. Meadows said the band's social media page will include updates as Oct. 11 approaches. "We always have great support from our community wherever we go, and we look for a big sea of red on Oct. 11," Meadows said.