St. Louis Band Contest – A Visit to Union Station

Over the weekend Susan and I attended Morgan’s high school marching band contest in St. Louis. Susan and I drove to St. Louis last Thursday and spent four days away from home. Yukon’s Friday afternoon performance was good enough to land them a spot in the finals and so the band performed again on Saturday. While Susan and I attended both performances and the awards ceremony Saturday night, that gave us lots and lots of time to explore the city.

While Susan has attended several of Morgan’s band competitions (sometimes as a spectator, often as a volunteer), this was my first. The competition took place inside “The Dome at America’s Center” in St. Louis. The Dome was home to the St. Louis Rams for twenty years (1995-2015) before the team returned to Los Angeles. Today, the Dome stadium is used largely for concerts, conventions, and occasionally, marching band competitions. As one might imagine, the acoustics inside the Dome are astounding, and experiencing the band’s performance in a (former) NFL stadium was very impressive. The band did a great job and placed 13th out of 64 bands, which is much higher than the kids (or band director) was expecting.

While in town, Susan and I had the opportunity to experience some really neat things. We toured a wholesale marketing/YouTube company, ate at some interesting restaurants, visited the memorial of one of Ripley’s most celebrated personalities, walked through a circus sideshow of oddities, and had a good time in Uranus (oh, the puns did flow that day). I’ll be writing more about our adventures throughout the week.

Friday evening, Andy, Lea, and Cooper Willrath arrived in town (their oldest son plays in the Mustang band). After they arrived, we picked them up in our car and headed to Union Station, home of the St. Louis Wheel. The St. Louis Wheel is 200′ tall (about 50′ taller than the Statue of Liberty). Once there we met up with more friends from Yukon (LaNese and Keith). While at the former train station we had dinner at the infamous Taco Container, watched the Fire and Light Show, and had ice cream from the Soda Fountain. We also walked around the adjoined building looked at the ropes course, mirror maze, and entrance to the aquarium. Maybe next time!