Santa Fe shows off at southern Showcase

ALACHUA – With the scent of popcorn and funnel cake lingering in the air, Santa Fe High School had a show to put on.

Crowds of mothers, fathers, distant relatives and even bus drivers for the bands cheered on the 17 marching bands competing for the top spot from 10 a.m. Saturday morning until 10 p.m. that night on Oct. 12 for the 18th Annual Southern Showcase.

Some parents volunteered to run ticket booths, shirt stands and the concessions office, but others preferred to support their band from the stands.

Antoinette Hunt and her husband, Randy Hunt, have sold hotdogs, hamburgers and barbecue at the showcase for the last two years.

“Each year it’s better and better,” Antoinette Hunt said.

The couple has supported Santa Fe High School since 1988 when their own children started school, Randy Hunt said.

Sitting in concrete seats sporting shirts that matched school colors, parents screamed and clapped as the event went on.

Between sets, the crowd would rush quickly to the nearest concession stands to get a drink or popcorn, and then dart back to their seats so they wouldn’t miss the next performance.

While most of the band students’ parents are volunteers, the showcase was so large it needed more people to help.

Two hundred Alachua residents helped in the showcase.

Local volunteers joined to keep the event running smoothly by packing and driving equipment to the field. Even some of the alumni come back to help set up equipment.

The showcase pulls in about 3,500 people every year, and this year it even had band members from the 1960s that live across the country come back to see their band compete, said Michelle Kays, a parent and volunteer at the event.

Parent Tracy Short, who was volunteering at a ticket stand, said the event was something that many locals look forward to every year. With five high school marching bands participating in the competition every year, the turnout continues to keep Santa Fe High School’s showcase as one of the top in the region, Short said.

Even the bus drivers for the bands look forward to seeing the bands every year.

Cindy Hall, a bus driver for Clay County, watched the band she delivered to the event. She has been driving Fleming Island High’s band to Santa Fe High School’s marching showcase for 15 years. The show always proved to be fun, she said.

The showcase hit its last note around 10 p.m. While some of the crowd dwindled, the rest of parents and volunteers helped clean up and pack the remainder of this year’s showcase.

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