Bands to be featured
Ripley County Music Festival set for Thursday
Mary Margaret Moorhead - Staff Writer

This year's Ripley County Music Festival will feature junior and senior high school bands from the four county schools: Batesville, Jac-Cen-Del, Milan, and South Ripley on Thursday, March 11, at the Milan High School gym.

As one of the oldest, continuing music festivals in the state, the Ripley County Music Festival will be hosted this year by the Milan Music Department and will be sponsored by the Ripley County Community Foundation, Inc.

Junior high bands from the four county schools will be under the direction of Chad Welage, music director at the Lockland City Schools in Cincinnati.

The senior high combined band will be directed by Bob Grechesky, professor of music at Butler University.

According to Mrs. Stefani Bedel, band director for the Milan schools, admission at the door will be $4 for adults, $3 for students and senior citizens, and no charge for children under five years of age. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Maintaining a long tradition, the four schools will combine their student instrumentalists in a program which provides quality music for the audience and a worthwhile learning experience for the students.

Among the selections the junior high band will play is "Joyous Spirit," a composition commissioned by the parents of Glenn Unklesbay's first wife, a teacher at the Fairfield, Ohio, schools who was killed in an automobile accident. "Joyous Spirit" was written by David Schaffer.

Band directors for the participating Ripley County schools are Doug Norton at Batesville; Glenn Unklesbay at Jac-Cen-Del; Stefani Bedel at Milan; and Eric Stauffer at South Ripley

Proceeds from the Ripley County Music Festival help to fund the ongoing program and to present a stipend to the visiting directors. This is the fourth year the Ripley County Community Foundation has been a sponsor for this countywide event.