The Band Fwstival

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A 1962 photo shows dozens of fans who found the Huntington Parking
Port the perfect perch to view that year’s big Band Festival parade.

Courtesy of Patrick Morris

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HUNTINGTON — One day Henry Shadwell, the long-time
director of the first Huntington High School band, invited
two other West Virginia band directors, Charles Gorby
of South Charleston and Carl McElfresh of Logan,
to his home. He told them he had an idea
 he wanted to share with them.

As the men talked, they hatched a plan to bring many of the state’s
high school bands together for a big weekend celebration. They
envisioned that the bands would first be judged for their
concert skills and then join in a big street parade,
followed by a program of intricate stadium
 maneuvers. The three decided that
Huntington, with its broad
 streets, would be the
 perfect spot for
the event.

And that’s how a long-time Huntington tradition, the
West Virginia Band Festival parade, was born. The
 first festival took place in 1936. Things started
out modestly enough, but the ensuing years
saw the event grow to monster-sized
proportions, by the late 1950s,
 the annual festival drew
nearly 100 bands.

Many visiting bands staged their own impromptu marches
during the festival. On Saturday morning, all the bands
would join in a seemingly endless parade. The bands
would form up at the Marshall College campus,
march down 4th Avenue to 8th Street, then
on to Fairfield Stadium to demonstrate
 their fancy footwork.

Huntington’s hotels were always filled with young musicians.
 And festival headquarters at Huntington City Hall
registered a long list of local families who
volunteered to house out-of-town band
members free of charge. As evidenced
by the accompanying 1962 photo,
the festival’s big parade always
attracted am enormous,
 cheering crowd.

But ultimately the Band Festival proved a victim of its
own success. It grew so large that no one city could
handle it. So the state was cut into regions, with
four smaller events conducted in various
 cities. And Huntington’s big parade
 became a well-loved memory.

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Note: Also Check out The Band Festival
found in the list of Old Huntington.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on July 30, 2024.

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