Thursday 13 February 2014

Optimist 2014

It is that time of year again.... time for Westwood Collegiate to go out and shine at the Optimist International Band Festival.

Each year for the past 39years the Optimist Clubs of Winnipeg come to gather and volunteer their time to host the largest band festival in Canada.  Westwood is proud to say that we have had a band at the festival for 39 years in a row.... pretty cool, huh?

This year we have three bands participating in the festival.

All performances and adjudications are held on the main floor of the Winnipeg Convention centre. Admission is $2 for parents and we encourage you to bring a friend to two to support our groups, as no one likes playing for an empty audience.





You can view the festival program on line here - Optimist Festival Program 2014

For the evening performances all students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the festival and should arrive at the convention centre no later than 1 hour before their performance time to accommodate for warm-up time.

Our festival run looks like this:

Tuesday Feb 18th, with Grade 10/11 Concert Band at 7:10 in room #2.

Wednesday Feb. 19th Grade 9 Concert Band at 2:50 p.m. in room #2.  Grade 9's will be going down in 2 busses.  Field-trip forms went home yesterday and are due back on the 14th.  Students are to meet in the band room at 12:03 and the busses leave at 1:00 p.m.  Students will be back at Westwood by 4:30 p.m.

Friday  Feb. 21st  Symphonic Band at 7:05 p.m. in room #2.  Symphonic Band will be volunteering (for the third year in a row) and giving back to our community by helping the festival with clean up after their adjudication.  This will take about an hour and involves packing up of the large instruments and stacking chairs.

If during this process, if need arrises, you can text me at 204-226-3923.

Thank you in advance for supporting our bands and cheering loud.






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