Council Rock South winter guard hosts annual “Spin Out at the Rock"

A full day dedicated to the pageantry art that often goes overlooked, “Spin Out at the Rock” will be held at Council Rock South on Feb. 11, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

This year South will be hosting nearly 60 teams, all in competition through the Mid Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN). The event is open to the public, with tickets sold at the door until 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children and seniors.

Closing the night will be exhibition performances from the Council Rock Middle School Winter Guard, the Council Rock South Winter Guard and the Council Rock South Indoor Drumline.

“While I think the general public can kind of fathom what a marching band is, and get an idea of what a marching band competition is, coming to a winter color guard competition is just a different world.” said John Burns, director of bands at Council Rock South, “To see these young people being treated like absolute rock stars when they come out here and do what they came to perform, that’s worth the price of admission right there.”

The Council Rock South Winter Guard’s 2023 program is titled “What We are MADE Of”, and is unlike anything previously seen from the award-winning team. This was made clear after its debut performance at Pennridge High School on Jan. 21, 2023.

The group may be small this year, but the talent of each student performer is worth tenfold. Through artful collaboration, imagery of base pairs and manipulation of X’s as chromosomes is only scraping the surface of this double-helix inspired show.

This is only the beginning for the CRS Winter Guard, as they have a long road to MAIN championships in April. For the Council Rock Band Parent Association South (CRBPAS), though, this competition means something so much more.

“Spin Out at the Rock” is easily the top fundraiser for CRBPAS, supplying funds for yearly expenses like equipment, music rights and food to keep fueling their hard working kids.

As the CRS band program continues to grow in success, with 3 national titles in the past 5 years, the CRBPAS relies on events like this to maintain the ability to compete at this caliber.

“The reason that we have one of the largest and most successful (indoor color guard) programs on the east coast is because of the dedication of our parents and the incredible hard work that they put into this,” said Burns, “I can’t thank our parent association enough for putting this together.”

In the end, it is the parents that run events like Spin Out, and keep the wheels (and flags!) spinning for the award-winning organization.

This year the CRBPAS is pushing to fund a new trailer to help transport equipment for South’s marching band, color guard and indoor drumline all year round.

If you are interested in supporting the organization’s goal to purchase a new trailer, click this link or visit https://www.crsouthband.org/.

Any inquiries about “Spin Out at the Rock” can be emailed to CRSindoorguard@gmail.com.

The event schedule can be found on the MAIN guards website.