Over a thousand families, friends and community members were in attendance for the 2017 Mineola Marching Festival that saw the Canton High School band take first place last Monday night at Meredith Memorial Stadium.

The 12-hour event began at 9 a.m. and included 32 performances in all, 30 of which were school in competition for the festival’s top award, and two others (Mineola and Tyler Junior College) that were just for entertainment.

Mineola Superintendent Kim Tunnell said she believes the festival was a great experience for all 4,000 of the band students who attended.

“The support was really awesome for all the participants.  There were several people from the community as well as those who traveled with their bands to perform. The purpose of this event was to bring people to our great town and allow our students and many other band students the opportunity to perform and be evaluated by an expert panel of judges,” Tunnell said via email last week.

The festival also served as a fundraiser for the Mineola band and benefits all band students in grades sixth through 12.

The other bands who placed in the top seven were Wills Point, Robert E. Lee, Marshall, Lindale, Sulphur Springs and Pleasant Grove high school bands.

Some of the furthest traveling bands drove over an hour to Mineola to compete including Tenaha, Community and Pleasant Grove-Texarkana.