Most students are still sleeping at 4:30 a.m., but not the band students on the day of their state fair performance.

The Baldwin High School band traveled to the Kansas State Fair to perform. They woke up early and drove to Hutchinson. They performed and got to experience the sights at the State Fair. The band came home with three 1 ratings.

“Waking up at 4:30 was hard, but it was worth it,” sophomore french horn player Lauren Russell said. “We all played great and had fun hanging out after our performance.”

After a four hour ride on a charter bus the band marched through the fair grounds and then played again for the judges.

“We all worked very hard,” freshman Abby Patterson said. “We focused on having good sound, not playing songs that were super challenging.”

The band students did not have a lot of time to prepare. But they had to memorize the songs in time. They spent every minute they had preparing, going outside on the nice days to work on marching.

“It was a great day to perform,” Russell said. “Last year it was very hot and miserable.”

Sophomore Audrey White agreed saying that this year was very nice weather.

“I think that not having to wait in the heat helped us get the ratings we got,” White said. “We were not hot and tired like last year.”

The band got two 1 minus ratings and one 1 rating. The band students got to celebrate their good ratings by spending the rest of the day at the State Fair. They got to see and experience lots of thing, like eating fried food and seeing animals.