New Threads

It’s been a long time coming. Ten years in fact. It was 10 years ago that the Berryille High School band transitioned from uniforms that were handed down from Fayetteville High School to the gray and white uniforms that all have enjoyed at football games.

“It was time to update, as the old uniforms were getting very worn” band director Doug Blevins said.

The band directors, Doug and Tonya Blevins, began the process of designing the new threads last November.

“It is quite a process,” Tonya Blevins said. “We met with a designer from Fred J Miller, a uniform company from Ohio — the same company that designed the previous uniform.”

The directors went back and forth with designers for a couple of months even meeting with a company representative at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago last December. Once a design was chosen, the company made a sample uniform, complete with hat and plume.

The Blevinses had a student model the new design for Superintendent Owen Powell and BHS Principal Donnel Armstrong. All agreed this was the design that would take the band into a new era in our community.

“Uniforms can be worn several different ways, so they may not always look the same. This gives the band options as they enter competitions with prelims and finals, and march in heat,” Tonya Blevins said.

The directors then had the student model the uniform for school board members who approved the purchase in April 2024. The order was placed and the new uniforms arrived in time for the last two home football games and the State marching competition.

“The band members are very proud and excited to be wearing these new uniforms,” Tonya Blevins said.

The Blevinses also noted that these new threads were possible thanks to the support of our community, the school board and school administrators. Band uniforms are projected to last around 10 years.