Jeffrey Hinkle is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Williams Field High School for AZPreps365.com

While some may see the marching band as just the halftime entertainment for a football game, its competitive season costs about as much, if not more than, an entire football season for Williams Field.

“All together, we’re looking at about $200,000 to $250,000 for an entire season,” said Williams Field band director Bob Edgar. “That’s with all of the different pieces involved.” 

Some of those expenses are transportation on show days, props and flags for the show and staff salaries. 

One of the biggest portions of the budget is instrument repair. Luckily, Williams Field's band doesn’t have to worry so much about that aspect.

“Our district has stepped forward and built in a budget for replenishing our supply of instruments,” Edgar said. “There’s a line item in our budget that’s $100,000 to help fund instruments for the district.”

One tuba alone could cost about $6,000. Williams Field has four tubas on the field at one time. 

So if something were to happen to all of them at once, it'd roughly cost $24,000 to replace all of them. 

The Black Hawk Regiment also has a way to help raise all that money: the boosters.

The organization is in charge of making sure the band runs smoothly. They give around 20 hours out of their time per week on a volunteer basis to help organize and raise funds for the band. 

“Last year, we worked the home football games for ASU,” said band booster president, Kristan Ellsworth. “We raised about $300 per person, which was great for our Washington D.C. trip.”

That Washington D.C. trip took a lot of planning by the boosters. All together, Ellsworth laughed as she said it took about a year and a half of scheduling fundraisers, along with figuring out transportation, and coordinating with a bunch of companies to try and get everything lined up.

Band booster treasurer Brandon Lunt explained that the boosters are a non-profit organization. They do this for the good of the band program, and to see the Black Hawk Regiment succeed year after year.

“Any proceeds from any event we host always stays in the budget,”  Lunt said.

The work that the boosters do is essential to running the band.

”There is no program without the booster program," Edgar said. "They help us out tremendously.”  

Along with the help from the boosters, the assistance from the district is a nice perk to have as well. Edgar kept saying that the Williams Field band is lucky to have the support of the district.

He’s right.

Many districts see fine arts as a way to cut funding, and save some money in schools. Higley Unified has chosen to embrace it, and give the arts what they need to succeed, both monetarily and physically. 

It's proven to work because Williams Field has created a band dynasty. The Black Hawk Regiment has won the state championships in 2010, 2013 and 2016, and are currently the defending champions. 

With the help of the boosters and the district backing them, the Black Hawk Regiment might have what it takes to make a statement in 2022.