Above: About 200 people gather to see the Westlake High School marching band perform Firday on Muirfield Way in Westlake. Top right: Jen Koch, daughter of Charles and Barb, plays the flute with the rest of the band in front of her house. Top Left: The drum line marches down Muirfield Way. (Photos by Larry Bennet)

Marching band makes neighborhood appearance
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published Oct. 26, 2005

Barb Kock sure knows how to entertain.

About 200 of her neighbors flocked to her Muirfield Way home for a performance of the Westlake High School Marching Band Friday evening.

The 40-minute performance by the band and its auxiliaries — the Demonettes, Debonairs and Majorettes — had been raffled off the week before in a fundraising event by the Westlake Music Boosters. The organization recently purchased and donated to the school’s music program a new truck. But additional equipment needs to be added to the truck’s interior so it can more efficiently carry musical instruments and other equipment, according to Kathie McNeilly of the Westlake Music Boosters.

So a performance of the marching band was auctioned off. Tickets were available for purchase throughout the fall. Before Barb Koch’s ticket was drawn at the final home football game Oct. 14, $1,800 was raised to equip the band truck.

“This was just so cool,” Koch said after the band’s performance. “I’m glad that the neighbors came and enjoyed it.”

Koch, who also expressed relief the rain held off until after the band left to perform at Westlake’s road game Friday night at Olmsted Falls, said the performance was the talk of the neighborhood the preceeding week. She passed out fliers throughout the neighborhood to make sure everyone was aware of the concert.

“I wanted a good crowd for the band,” said Koch, who said at least four band members live in the immediate neighborhood. Koch’s son Andy is a senior at Westlake High School, and her daughter Jen, a sophomore, plays the flute in the band.

How did Jen feel about playing with the entire band at her home?

“I think she was between being thrilled and being mortified,” her mother said, “but that’s a teenage thing.”