PitCrew: Columbus Marching Festival

Location: Columbus, NE 68601

Parade:

Downtown Columbus – setup at 12th St & 26th Ave

Competition:

3420 Pawnee Plaza, Columbus, NE
(GPS: 41.422016587335065, -97.36917093241031 )

2024:

The Band will load from 6:30-7:00 am and leave KHS by 7:00 am on Saturday.  The trailer will be loaded on Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm, but we will load hat bags and uniforms on Saturday morning. The trailers will follow the buses as we travel to Columbus.

At 9:00 am we arrive in Columbus and the band gets in uniform.  We need to unload the instruments (for the parade) at this time.  We will likely be a block or so South of the parade route in Columbus, usually in the gravel parking area by the railroad (about 26th Ave & 12th St).  Once the students have their instruments, we load the carts back on the trailer and lock it up and it stays parked. We are #18 and follow Norfolk High School (and UNK follows us). We can then go watch the parade until Kearney marches through.  Kearney’s step off is approximately 10:30 am. When Kearney is done marching the parade (approximately 11:00 am), we load instruments back on the carts and back in to the trailer, and are done with the parade.

After the parade, we go to Pawnee Park (where the field competition is – on the South side of Columbus – just North of the river entering Columbus from the South on the highway, the park is on the west side of the highway) and have time for lunch (approximately 12:00 pm).  The trailers will follow the buses. The bus parking is East of the field, and the trailer parking is in the lot to the south-east of the bus parking lot. All cars and spectators will park West of the football stadium. Once parked, you can walk around the South side of the field on the paved road to get to the parking lot where the trailers are parked.

The itinerary notes that the Parade awards are at 2:40 pm. Lunch break is 12:00 pm.

After the lunch break, we need to be ready to unload the trailer by 3:00 pm. Look for our blue trailer parked Southeast of the field. We unload the trailer at 3:00 pm and prepare for the competition.  We will need to assist the students in moving the pit equipment to their warm-up area by 4:10 pm for a 4:15 warm up time, and then to the competition field by 4:35 pm to be on-deck at 4:50 pm. 

Kearney’s performance time is 5:10 pm.  We follow Lakeview High School. Note that we will enter the field from the South side of the stadium, so we will be lined up to enter in modified field order (we line up in reverse order of the UNK field).  The Drum Off starts at 5:40 pm. Once our performance is complete, we exit the field on the North side of the stadium and move our equipment back to the trailer and load the trailer to prepare for travelling home.

Field awards are at 5:55 pm.  We will leave for Kearney by 6:30 pm and arrive in Kearney around 10:00 pm. Plans are to stop for a dinner break on the way home.  We unload the trailer back in to the Band room when we get back to the High School at 10:00 pm.

It will be a big day, but remember that we are representing Kearney – let’s do our very best.

Remember to wear BLUE.

Note: Guest Admission is $8 Adults / $5 Students – Cash only.
Concessions does accept credit cards. Concessions Menu

Columbus Parade Map:

Columbus Competition Site Map:

Columbus Pawnee Park Map:

Schedule for the Day:
6:30 am – load buses in Kearney
7:00 am – depart Kearney for Columbus
9:00 am – arrive Columbus
10:00 am – Parade Starts
10:30 am – Kearney step off
11:00 am – load trailers
12:00 pm – lunch at Pawnee Park
2:40 pm – Parade awards
3:00 pm – unload trailers
4:10 pm – move to warmup
4:35 pm – move to field
4:50 pm – on deck
5:10 pm – Kearney performs
5:40 pm – Drum Off
5:55 pm – Field awards
6:30 pm – leave Columbus
10:00 pm – arrive in Kearney & unload