FHS music programs to host mattress fundraiser

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield High School music programs will hold a new fundraiser next week to raise money for a trip to St. Louis this summer.

The FHS band and choir programs will hold a mattress sale on Saturday, Feb. 12 in the Fairfield Middle School Cafeteria. The event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For that day, FMS will be transformed into a mattress showroom, featuring all styles of mattresses from economy to luxury.

Fairfield High School Band Director Hannah Ball said she got the idea to hold a mattress fundraiser from Highland High School, which also did one. The Highland band director told her the school raised $5,000, and Ball said she’s hoping Fairfield’s fundraiser can match that.

The company putting on the fundraiser is Custom Fundraising Solutions, which introduced the idea of a mattress fundraiser in 2005 in Cleveland, Ohio. The company has more than 100 locations and works with more than 2,000 schools.

In a flyer advertising the sale, the company says that more than 25 styles of mattress will be on display, brand-new with factory warranties, and that delivery is available. Financing is an option, too. Mattress purchases come with free sheets.

The money raised from the Feb. 12 mattress sale will defray the cost of FHS music students performing in St. Louis in early June. Members of the band will perform at Six Flags Theme Park, while members of the choir will perform at a church. The students will get to spend a day having fun at the theme park, and spend a night in a hotel. They’ll also see a Broadway production of “The Lion King.”

Band students at FHS had a tradition of performing at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, once every four years, so that every student got the chance during their four-year high school career. Students not only got to enjoy the theme parks in Orlando but also got to perform in a parade, and have a 2.5-hour session with a musical professional or professional choreographer in the case of the flag team.

The students would have gone last year, but then-director Jim Edgeton decided against it because the Disney parks were only partially open, the students wouldn’t have gotten to perform, and a survey showed 75 percent of band parents didn’t want to send their students.

Ball said Disney has changed its rules about what schools are allowed in, making it harder, so returning to Disney in 2022 was not an option for FHS. Ball said the band and choir have performed in St. Louis before, before the era of the Disney World trips.

The music programs will take all the money raised through their fundraisers and distribute it equally among the band and choir students, who are responsible for paying the rest of the cost to go on the St. Louis trip. Students have already put down a deposit to secure their spot on the trip.

Back to normal

Band students have had to endure plenty of changes during the past two years. Last year, the band could not meet as a large group, and lessons were limited to five students plus the instructor. Ball said those restrictions have been lifted and that band is back to a pre-pandemic “normal.”

“The kids wear a mask when they’re not playing,” Ball said. “But otherwise, we rehearse as a whole group every day like we did before. We have the pep band and jazz band again, which we didn’t have last year.”

Ball said there are specially designed masks for band students to wear even while they’re playing, and special covers for their instruments, though they’re rarely employed.

“A couple of kids have bell covers, but we’re not really using them,” she said. “Playing an instrument is not really any more dangerous, and [the covers] do affect the sound of the instrument. They’re cumbersome, too.”

This is Ball’s first year at the helm of the band, having taken over from Edgeton, who was in the position 29 years. Ball said her first year is going well, and that she’s proud of how her students have performed. She’s glad they’ve been able to hold several public performances, which were rare last year.

“We had a Veterans Day assembly and concert, and we had our December concert where the students played very well,” she said. “We were also able to do Chocolate Sunday in December with the jazz band and percussion ensemble.”

The public can catch the band, choir, and their various smaller groups including percussion ensemble, during a concert Thursday, Feb. 10 at the Fairfield High School Auditorium.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com