The Montezuma-Cortez High School Marching Band will perform a Community Appreciation Concert at 5 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 28 at Panther Stadium.

The event is free and open to the public.

On Oct. 19, the M-CHS Marching Panthers performed at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction for the 2017 Colorado Bandmasters Association Regional State Qualifier competition.

The band received first place in class 2A, and has qualified to compete in the Colorado Bandmasters State Championships on Oct. 29 in Parker.

After the band returns from the state championship, it will travel to St. George, Utah, to compete in the Red Rocks Marching Festival.

According to band director, Katie Zdanowski, the band wanted to thank the community with the performance.

“Most of our home performances have been at the halftime of football games, and I know that a lot of parents work two jobs, or work the night shift and not everyone gets to come out and see the band at the home football games,” Zdanowski said. “It is kind of twofold I guess: (Students) wanted to give parents and family members a chance to see what their kids have been working on and wanted to take the time to thank our community that comes out and supports us in a big way.”

Zdanowski said that the success of the band comes from a long-standing tradition of excellence in the program.

“The kids that come into our program know day one that they are expected to work hard,” Zdanowski said. “They know from the very beginning that it isn’t going to be easy but they go ahead and do it because that is what we do here in Cortez.”

M-CHS on Friday announced that the band will get a police escort through Cortez on Sunday as the band heads to Parker for the state championship. According to a news release from Deb Ramsey, the band will leave M-CHS at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, head west on West Seventh Street, then east through town on U.S. Highway 160.