‘No Field Until November 5’—

This Weekend’s Grasso Festival To Be Held In Danbury

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais learned on Wednesday, October 13, that the NHS field and track will not be usable until November 5.

“No Grasso Festival” in Sandy Hook, he said. “No field until November 5.”

The Grasso Festival, the NHS Marching Band and Guard’s annual home show scheduled for this Saturday, will be moved to Danbury High School, where another marching band and guard competition was already scheduled and sponsored by Bethel High School.

Not having use of the field until November 5, Mr Dumais said, will effect the school’s homecoming, football games, and field hockey games.

“Due to delays in completion of the artificial turf and the track surface, Newtown High School will not take ownership of the stadium until November 5, 2010 (tentative, pending work completion),” Mr Dumais posted on his blog, http://dumais.us/newtown/blog Wednesday afternoon. “Unfortunately, this means that school events — Grasso Festival, athletic contests, homecoming … — cannot take place on the field.”

Until Wednesday, plans for the 14th Annual Joseph P. Grasso Marching Band Festival had been working up to the Saturday, October 16, home game.

Instead, the competition will be joined with Bethel High School’s 15 Annual Quest for the Best marching band and color guard competition. The event will be held on the athletic field at Danbury High School, 43 Clapboard Ridge Road, and will begin at 5 pm.

The Joseph P. Grasso Marching Band Festival had been planned as a fundraiser for the NHS band. According to band director Kurt Eckhardt, the event will still raise funds for the band, but it will be a joint effort to raise funds for both Bethel and Newtown.

“We just hope that we can break even to cover costs,” said Mr Eckhardt.

Newtown is scheduled to go on at 9 pm with a performance of its show, “Legacy,” a salute to the music of Aaron Copeland, according to band parent Robbin Chaber and Mr Eckhardt.

The NHS show had planned to honor more than 20 Marching Band and Color Guard seniors and their parents during the performance. The Grasso Festival was expected to attract upwards of a thousand spectators.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids. Admission for children 5 and under are free.

The Newtown Nighthawks Marching Band and Guard also won third place in a band competition in New Milford on Saturday, October 9. Norwalk earned first place, and Port Chester scored just 0.2 points more than Newtown to win second place.