PHOTOS: Shenandoah Valley band performs at annual Gratz Fair band day

GRATZ – The Shenandoah Valley High School Band continued a long-standing tradition with a trip to upper Dauphin farm country to perform at the annual Gratz Fair.

It’s a tradition that, for the Blue Devils, dates back to the tenure of director Robert Stoner.

The Gratz Fair hosts marching bands on the Friday of fair week for a midday performance in front of the grandstand.

A native son of upper Dauphin County and former Millersburg mayor, Stoner added the Gratz Fair and the Millersburg Halloween Parade to Shenandoah Valley’s schedule.

The fair has remained on the calendar ever since.

Each participating band performs the music of their field show and they all join together for one large performance at the end.

Aside from Shenandoah Valley, participating bands make up a contiguous area covering upper Dauphin, western Schuylkill, and southern Northumberland counties, including Millersburg Area, Halifax, Upper Dauphin, Line Mountain, Tri-Valley, and Williams Valley.

In recent years, Shenandoah Valley had been joined by Mahanoy Area and North Schuylkill from our area, and Mahanoy Area was initially scheduled to perform this year.

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home. She is a 12-time Keystone Media Award winner, a PAB Excellence in Broadcasting award winner, and has been nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy award.

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