SELMA – Despite a gray sky, downtown Selma was bright with the sounds of classic marches and the sights of colorful plumes as dozens of bands and hundreds of spectators gathered for the 60th Selma Rotary Band Festival.
Middle and high school bands took over multiple blocks in downtown Selma for the festivities on Oct. 25. While parents and younger siblings waited eagerly for their band members to pass and marchers focused on maintaining their lines and hitting their notes, Selma Rotation Jeff Shepard reflected on the history of Selma’s big event.
Shephard said that back in the 1960s, one of the only band competitions in the state was in Long Beach, and was just a parade through the city. That sparked Pete Esraelian and Pat Balakian to start a festival with a parade in the morning and a field competition in the afternoon…