The Lakewood Ranger Marching Band is embarking on a significant fundraising effort in order to reduce the cost of its trip to Canada this October for all 130 band members. Proceeds from the marching band’s largest fundraiser, the 2016 Band Festival Preview and Lakewood High School Band Festival will support this trip.

The band will be traveling to Canada on Oct. 8, 2016 and will be a guest band in the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade in Ontario, Canada on Monday, Oct. 10. Since 1969, the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest has become “the largest Bavarian festival in North    America with the greatest Thanksgiving Day Parade in Canada” (www.oktoberfest.ca/). The Lakewood Ranger Marching Band has been a guest band at this parade in years past, and our Canadian friends are excited to welcome our marching band back to Canada’s greatest Bavarian festival.

The Band Festival Preview will be held on Monday, Aug. 15 from 5-9pm at Lakewood Park (rain date: Friday, Aug.19). Bring the family, camp chairs and a picnic basket, and watch and listen as the band prepares for the annual Lakewood High School Band Festival by marching non-stop for four hours. All families, fans, friends, and alumni of the Lakewood Ranger Marching Band, and all members of the local business community, are invited to sponsor a student with a donation. Nine sponsorship levels are available with corresponding rewards at the Preview event and in the Lakewood High School Band Festival program. Sponsorship information is available at http://lakewoodrmb.wix.com/lrmb. Donate at $40 or more before or at the Band Festival Preview and the band will stop whatever it is doing to play your selected song, cadence, or stand tune! Walk-up sponsors are welcome!

Save the date for the 2016 Lakewood High School Band Festival: Saturday, Sept. 24 beginning at 6 pm at First Federal Lakewood Stadium. This annual event attracts high school marching bands and band supporters from throughout the region to Lakewood, including this year’s special guest band: The College of Wooster Fighting Scots Marching Band. Individual and business sponsors registered by Aug. 12 will be recognized at the Band Festival Preview on Aug.15 and at the LHS Band Festival on Sept. 24. All funds raised from this year’s Band Festival Preview and LHS Band Festival will help to fund the Lakewood Ranger Marching Band’s October trip to Canada. Sponsor a student today!

You can submit your sponsorship online by clicking here: www.tinyurl.com/LRMBsponsor