The marching Woodmen spare no expense in ensuring its members have everything they need for a year of successful performances, and a new fundraiser will help cover related costs.

The band participated in Wamm Fest this year, selling parking tickets to raise money to fund future shows, trips, and individual expenses.

“This fundraiser opens up the opportunity to pay for the shows and our California trip next year where we march in the Hollywood Christmas parade. It also just helps us to pay for everything that makes a show a show,” sophomore Kira Smith said.

Students and parents are involved in the fundraiser, both equally essential for ensuring everything goes to plan.

“Parents organize the schedule and determine when people have breaks, when they show up, and when they are supposed to leave. The students are the people actually coordinating the parking and making sure people are being safe,” Mr. Luke Aylsworth, band director, said.

This is not the first large-scale fundraiser the band has done, and they have learned a lot from other events similar to Wamm Fest.

“We’ve learned in the past that more people and more hands on deck usually make fundraisers like this way more efficient and 100 times easier,” senior Noah Sirkin said.

Wamm Fest and similar fundraisers bring students in the band closer to their community and each other, benefiting the band in ways unrelated to money.

“Through things like this, you really get to know people, and once they know you’re a part of something, they are very intrigued about it. Once they know what they’re supporting, it really forces them to get more involved, so they start coming to shows and just get to see something they have never listened to before,” Smith said.