Pottstown School District

POTTSTOWN By the time the Pottstown Trojans Marching Band takes to the field at halftime, all thats left is the marching and the playing because of all the work that has preceded that moment.

Much of that work, like so many things in Pottstown, is done by a group of nearly invisible volunteers who log long hours for no other reason than to support the children of the community.
Needless to say, many of the members of the Pottstown Music Association are there because their own children are marching across the gridiron; or learning the proper fingering on a trumpet; or even learning how to warm up their voice.

Our organization helps the music programs in elementary schools, middle school and the high school, said Deb Shirey, the president of the non-profit organization.

But while many, like Shirey, first got involved because of their own children, they stay long after their children have moved on.

My daughter played the trumpet and she graduated in 2010, but Im still here, she said.

And good thing too.

I dont know how we would get through the season without them, said Michael Vought, the marching band director at the high school. I just tell them I think it would be nice to have something and a few days later, there it is.

As an example, Vought provides a quick tour of a trailer system festooned with straps, buckles and the kinds of concert instruments one does not usually associate with a half time show.

I said to the pit dads, that I would like something to hang several chimes on, and I told them how many chimes and that they had to ring free, and a few days later, all of a sudden, this appeared attached to the cart, Vought said.

Over in the signature trailer that carries so much of the extraneous band equipment to each game, Phil Vontor, Paul Kolbmann, Joe Campbell and John Mutter are sending sparks in every direction cutting a piece of metal tracking they are installing in the trailer floor.

We built the ramp for the trailer last year and we put this tracking down this year, said Mutter, whose daughter plays the clarinet, who had to stop cutting because of a broken saw blade. Its a lot of work.

The crew shows up hours before a game to set up the trailer to load all the instruments carried inside, all in a specific order worked out over the summer.

Vontor, whose son plays trombone, said these daily efforts in August which can be as much as 20 hours per week are an investment in efficiency when the football season starts.

By the time football seasons started, weve got it all down, said Campbell who, with one son in the high school band and one daughter in the middle school band, expects to be spending a lot of time in the next couple years loading musical instruments.

We basically tell people from now until Thanksgiving, all weekends are for band, explained Kolbmann, who has two clarinet-playing daughters in the band.

Then there is the matter of the uniforms, the paper work and the ever-present fundraising.

Outside the trailer, Shirey, her sister Vicki Meidinger, who is the associations secretary and who like her sister, continues to help out even though she no longer has children participating in the program, is joined by Nancy Sellers, the groups treasurer, and Tammy Vontor, the vide president.

Like so many school-related organizations in these tough budget times, there is a constant demand for money to pay for the things the taxpayers can no longer afford.

Perhaps the biggest money-maker is the concession stand at the football games, which Vontor runs. But that doesnt mean we wouldnt love to have some donations, she said with a smile.

In addition to monetary donations, the association also solicits donations of goods and services for the gift baskets that are raffled off as fundraisers, Shirey said.

Sellers, whose daughter plays the flute, said the money is used not only for operating expenses, but also to help pay for the trip to Florida that the band takes every other year.

(A true opportunist, Sellers was quick to announced that a pancake breakfast to raise funds will be held at Applebees Oct. 1.)

Shirey said other fundraisers include bake sales, Wawa coupons, selling Otis Spuknmeyer cookies and someone has to keep track of all that paper work.

And although Pottstown is fortunate that a bequest funds a foundation that pays for all the band uniforms, the association handles the task of distributing them, fitting the students, and making the odd repair.

We pretty much do everything else, Shirey said with a laugh as one of the pit dads fired up the converted lawn tractor and began to haul the long train of trailers loaded with instruments across the field while the band members practiced in the distance.

print