Crown Jewel
VERO BEACH — Fort Pierce Central High School took home the Overall Best Band award at the 42nd annual Crown Jewel Festival of marching bands on Saturday, a first-time win for the school.
Melbourne High School took second place and Port St. Lucie High School took home third among the field of nine area bands. The number of bands participating was smaller this year because it was homecoming weekend for some of the regular competitors.
The host band — from Vero Beach High School — performed an exhibition program.
Crown Jewel's loyal following
“The one thing about Crown Jewel is that we have a loyal following in terms of bands that come every year, especially our neighboring counties,” said festival Director Page Howell. “We had all but one high school from St. Lucie County that came, and then we had a couple from Brevard County that came.
“We do the festival for our local bands, our area bands and it's great to see them come back each year,” Howell said. “We appreciated it, and there were a few bands that come every year and couldn't because it was their homecoming. The St. Lucie County bands especially, I mean, they come every year and we really appreciate that.”
The 2023 Crown Jewel festival consisted of three classifications based on size. The biggest band had 152 members.
First, second and third place is awarded in each classification, along with caption awards. At the end of the night, one band is crowned the Best Overall, receiving the Sheila Knight Sammons Award. Sammons was Vero Beach High School associate band director from 1980 until her death in 1995.
Crown Jewel is a competition that Vero Beach High School band boosters and parents work tirelessly to organize.
“We have a really good core group of band parents. I left them at 11:30 p.m. (Saturday), they were still cleaning up and doing stuff,” said Howell. “We couldn’t do it without them.”
2023 Crown Jewel Festival results
Overall Beset Band: Fort Pierce Central High School
Overall Best Auxiliary: Port St. Lucie High School
Overall Best Percussion: South Lake High School
BRONZE CLASS
Best in Class: Space Coast JR/SR High School
First Runner Up: Palm Beach Gardens High School
Second Runner Up: None
Best in Class Musical Performance: Space Coast JR/SR High School
Best in Class General Effect: Space Coast High JR/SR School
Best in Class Visual Performance: Space Coast JR/SR High School
Best in Class Percussion: Space Coast JR/SR High School
Best in Class Auxiliary: Space Coast JR/SR High School
GOLD CLASS
Best in Class: Port St. Lucie High School
First Runner Up: Treasure Coast High School
Second Runner Up: Wellington High School
Best in Class Musical Performance: Port St. Lucie High School
Best in Class General Effect: Port St. Lucie High School
Best in Class Visual Performance: Wellington High School
Best in Class Percussion: South Lake High School
Best in Class Auxiliary: Port St. Lucie High School
PLATINUM CLASS
Best in Class: Fort Pierce Central High School
First Runner Up: Melbourne High School
Second Runner Up: St. Lucie West Centennial High School
Best in Class Musical Performance: Fort Pierce Central High School
Best in Class General Effect: Melbourne High School
Best in Class Visual Performance: Fort Pierce Central High School
Best in Class Percussion: Melbourne High School
Best in Class Auxiliary: Melbourne High School
2022 results: Sebastian River High School's Marching Sharks are champs at Crown Jewel Festival
2021 results: Melbourne High School takes top prize at 40th Crown Jewel Marching Band Festival
Overall rank
Fort Pierce Central High School
Melbourne High School
Port St. Lucie High School
Treasure Coast High School
Wellington High School
Space Coast JR/SR high School
South Lake High School
St. Lucie West Centennial High School
Palm Beach Gardens High School
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 40th Crown Jewel festival brings nine high school bands to Vero Beach
