{"id":44043,"date":"2021-10-28T01:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-band-holds-protest-concert-after-district-cancels-trip-to-state-competition\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:17:07","slug":"cortez-band-holds-protest-concert-after-district-cancels-trip-to-state-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-band-holds-protest-concert-after-district-cancels-trip-to-state-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez band holds protest concert after district cancels trip to state competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Montezuma-Cortez High School marching band held a concert at Parque de Vida Wednesday as a final concert and form of protest against the school district\u2019s decision to cancel the band's trip to the state competition in Pueblo. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Members of the Montezuma-Cortez High School marching band organized an impromptu concert Wednesday at Parque de Vida after they learned the school district canceled their trip to compete at the state tournament in Pueblo because of pandemic concerns.<\/p>\n

About 50 supporters gathered to hear the band play for about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Concert organizer and senior Brooklyn Harper said band members felt it was important to perform one more time for the community after the school district nixed their final appearances at Panther stadium Friday and their state competition performance set for Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get together and show our appreciation for the community. We worked hard all year and did not want to go out without a final performance, especially for the seniors,\u201d Harper said.<\/p>\n

\"Fans
Fans of the Montezuma-Cortez High School marching band cheered during an impromptu concert held at Parque de Vida Wednesday in Cortez. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Re-1 Montezuma-Cortez school district canceled all extracurricular activities because of the COVID-19 spike. All district schools have gone to remote learning, and hundreds of students are in quarantine.<\/p>\n

When the marching band learned yesterday they could not travel and participate in the state tournament, it was \u201cheartbreaking,\u201d said band member Amber Hebberd. \u201cGoing to state is a great opportunity to show everyone what we have been practicing all this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state marching band tournament starts this weekend. M-CHS was scheduled to perform on Monday.<\/p>\n

The student-organized concert at the park was to have a final performance, but also served as a form of protest over the school district\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state competition is all outside. We will take whatever precautions necessary to be able to go, wear masks, social distance,\u201d Harper said.<\/p>\n

The band qualified for the state tournament during an earlier regional competition. It is ranked sixth out of 12 bands in their division.<\/p>\n

After the park concert, the marching band held a Zoom meeting with school officials and Superintendent Risha VanderWey to try and negotiate a safe solution for the band to perform at the state competition.<\/p>\n

Suggestions included taking additional precautions such as taking more buses so there are fewer students on each bus and booking more hotel rooms to reduce group size.<\/p>\n

Harper said after the meeting it felt like there was a \u201cslight chance\u201d the band would be allowed to perform at state. A decision by the school district is expected soon, she said.<\/p>\n

Parents also urged school leaders to find a solution allowing for the trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have put 342 hours of practice into this performance. Qualifying for state is a big deal for these kids, they want to show what they can do,\u201d said parent Robin Hebberd. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the band putting on this concert, they are letting their voices be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Montezuma-Cortez High School marching band held a concert at Parque de Vida Wednesday as a final concert and form of protest against the school district\u2019s decision to cancel the band's trip to the state competition in Pueblo. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students urge school officials to reconsider and allow band to perform at Pueblo event with additional precautions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,21,28,36,559,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-music","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85948,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44043\/revisions\/85948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44043"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}