Over 100,000 votes decided Herald readers’ favorite high school band. See who won
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- Fort Mill High School band led Herald’s poll with 45% of over 100,000 votes.
- Band holds 24 South Carolina state titles and performs in national events.
- Community support fuels band’s success, from fundraising to global tours.
The most decorated marching band program in South Carolina history can add another title to its trophy case.
The Fort Mill High School marching band topped The Herald’s poll as the area’s favorite on Friday. Herald readers cast more than 103,000 votes online by the Friday 5 p.m. cutoff time, with Fort Mill getting 45% of them. Crosstown neighbor Catawba Ridge High School was second at 39%.
Because passion for area marching band knows no limits, supporters of both schools kept voting in the informal poll after that 5 p.m. deadline. Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge each had more than 63,000 votes by Monday morning. The 16-band Rock Hill region had nearly 154,000 combined votes early Monday.
Clover, Andrew Jackson, York Prep, Chester and Nation Ford high schools each collected more than 2,000 votes.
Fort Mill High marches to a holiday theme
The more than 200-member Fort Mill High band will perform a “Home for the Holidays” show this year, ranging from bustling city to small hometown festivities.
The band knows holidays. They’ve marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day (1995), the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (1986) and the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Ireland (2013, 2023).
The band also has become a familiar site across South Carolina.
The 24 state championships in Fort Mill’s trophy case are a state record. Wando is a distant second, with 15 state titles.
Fort Mill also birthed a title tradition in its own area. Nation Ford opened in 2007 and Catawba Ridge followed in 2019. Those Fort Mill schools already have 13 combined titles.
Community support, demonstrated by fans in The Herald’s online poll, is a key reason why Fort Mill bands have performed so well.
Countless hours band parents put in each fall are a major cog in the machine, Hall of Fame band director Martin Dickey told The Herald this summer. Dickey led all three Fort Mill high school band programs, and won eight state titles at Fort Mill.
“In Fort Mill specifically it truly is a community effort to support the band programs, from the superintendents all the way to the families,” Dickey said. “We have always set high standards and expectations, and the Fort Mill community has always delivered.”
Fort Mill takes its music worldwide
The run of state championships in Fort Mill that started in 1976 led to numerous accolades. Fort Mill now routinely travels for large regional or even national competitions.
There’s even a “major league” marching band program based in Fort Mill, Carolina Crown, that competes world championship events each year.
Fort Mill also takes its music, and a little town history, across the world.
Along with the Ireland trips, the band went to the Normandy American Cemetery in France in 2016. Next year on another holiday, Memorial Day, the band will perform at St. Mihiel American Cemetery in France. The band will honor Medal of Honor recipient Tom Hall and 40 Fort Mill servicemen killed in World War I or World War II.
Many of those men died in France. The band will perform in honor of a Fort Mill soldier buried at St. Mihiel, and another at Epinal American Cemetery in France. The band also will travel to Switzerland as part of the spring trip.
From fundraising for international trips to topping online fan polls, community support and enthusiasm for the Fort Mill band program has been a constant in the community for decades.
