FMBC 2022 Yearbook

25years

Jon& CathyKersten

FMBC Co-Founders

FMBCHistory

In 1997 a very creative man had an idea - a dream that he was determined to turn into reality Jon Kersten, a former military man and later a government employee working for the post office, had retired and along with his wife Cathy, was spending most of his time pursuing his dream career - teaching the performance arts and designing field shows for high school bands. As a result of joy he felt from his early life experiences in High School, he had developed a love for the Visual Performing Arts In 1997, in addition to the FBA 'Music Performance Assessment (MPA) Festivals held in most FBA Districts, there were at least twenty-five Independent Florida Marching Band Competitions hosted by different high schools around the state These various competitions evaluated their participating bands by a variety of systems with differing standards and they used judges with varying degrees of skill and training As a result Jon believed that many Florida high school marching band directors and their students were often not receiving the recognition and appreciation they deserved for their hard work and achievements in the performing arts, especially the smaller bands Jon was deeply committed to music education and performance, but mostly to the students He decided to do something about it! Jon was one of those rare visionaries who can not only conceive of an idea, but he can also bring it to life Jon and Cathy pooled their resources, and with the support of some of the best and most dedicated music educators in the state, in December of 1997 they formed the Florida Marching Band Coalition, FMBC

FMBC History

Welcome to Broward County,

It is my honor to welcome the Florida Marching Band Championships (FMBC) to Broward County. Thank you for choosing Fort Lauderdale as the location for this year ’ s championship.

It is so exciting to watch and listen to the competitors as more than seventy high school marching bands from throughout Florida compete on November 19th and 20th. The FMBC gives everyone a chance to recognize, appreciate, and learn as we watch the most creative, innovative and “best of the best” in high school marching band entertainment and showmanship.

Hat's off to all the talent, time, and determination to get to this point. We hope that you take some time to enjoy all that Broward County has to offer, including 23-miles of award-winning beaches, great weather most of the year, and lots of culture to experience and explore. Competing will make you very hungry too, so please try to experience the multitude of restaurants that feature a variety of different tastes to choose from.

And we welcome the 30 nationally ranked judges who will be visiting too! The competition is rough, and it is challenging to decide which bands deserve to be the of State Champions! Best of luck to all!!

Please know that everyone in Broward County is cheering for you as you are part of One Broward-“Everyone Under the Sun.”

Have a great time, play hard and march on!

Aaron Snipes

Beth Fabrizio

Bob Thomas

Bruce Jones

Chris Allen Chris Dillon

Christina Torrez Daniel Montoya Darrin Davis

Drew Tucker

Edrick Rhodes Erin Brown

Gary Bartelt

Greg Llacer Jay Emmert

Jen Karp

John Phillips Julie Sutton Davila

Ken Giese

Kevin Bell Mark Hoskins

Mike Higbe

Pat Miller Randy Nelson

Ron Coleman

Sean Phillips

Terry Sanders

Tonya O'Malley

Wayne Dillon WL Whaley

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