Written by Teague Alesch
The 78th Annual Algona Band Day Festival was held on Saturday, October 3rd. Schools from all over the state came to Algona to compete, including nineteen high schools and one college.
The day began with the Tornado Alley walk/run. Eight AHS cross country runners took part in this event. The parade and awards were next in line and took place on State Street. The field show followed the parade and was held on the Algona High School football field. Finally, the night was capped off with the field show awards. 
Worthington High School walked away as the parade champions. Moving to the field show awards, Lake Mills claimed the 1A trophy, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura won in 2A, and Sheldon and Fort Dodge won their respective 3A and 4A classes with Fort Dodge being crowned overall field show champions. Algona gave an exhibition performance rather than competing for a trophy in both the field show and parade.
Algona Band director, Nick Libel, said, “It’s cool how the whole community comes together to make it a big deal. It’s the second oldest band festival in Iowa.”
Congratulations to the Algona band and good luck this weekend at State!