After a one-year hiatus, Mass Bands is returning in 2021.
But because of the pandemic, the event won’t look like previous Mass Bands concerts.
In 2021, Mass Bands actually will be three concerts on two days in the Salthawk Activity Center. Sixth graders will get their own afternoon on May 19. The combined sixth grade bands will have a practice from 4 to 5 p.m. that afternoon with the official concert beginning at 5 p.m. Because of the size of the SAC, there will not be any formal restrictions on who can attend. Masks and social distancing will be required because it is an indoor event.
May 20 will be the concert event for Hutchinson Middle School and Hutchinson High School students. The Hutchinson Middle School concert will be at 6:45 p.m. The combined HHS band will follow at 7:30 p.m.
Both HMS and HHS will play their own arrangements of the traditional finale for Mass Bands, “A Mighty Fortress.”
The Mass Bands Concert began in 1988. The event was designed as a chance for students to play with what may be the largest group they ever will in their lives and hear what older musicians are playing.