Tag Day Drivers Needed

Students preparing for Tag Day 2025.

The band’s most important fundraiser of the year is starting this weekend! For two Saturdays in a row—August 22nd and August 29th—the band students break into small groups, fan out, and place an orange tag on nearly every door inside Hayfield Secondary’s school boundary, inviting our community to support the band. The donations received during Tag Day fund the basic operations of the band, from specialized instructors to instrument transportation to contest entry fees.

To make Tag Day a success, we need parent or guardian drivers and breakfast donations! Please use our Sign Up Genius to let us know you can drive one of the 22 routes with the students and/or donate breakfast items. We need drivers and donations for both Saturdays. Driving a route is a lovely way to meet the students in the band—you’ll have three or four new marchers to cheer for this season!

Students and drivers meet at the Band Room at 7:45 a.m. both days to get their routes and prepare for the day. Most routes are complete by lunchtime. Drivers traditionally take their groups out to a local restaurant where students purchase their own lunches before returning to the band room.

Sign up to drive or donate today!

Volunteer Sign Up Genius

We have some early needs for volunteers and item donations as we go into the second week of summer band camp. All volunteer opportunities and donation sign-ups are on our Sign Up Genius.  Please use Sign Up Genius to let the boosters know how you would like to participate or what you can bring.

Pool Party, Wednesday, August 12

Help us celebrate the start of the season! We need food donations as well as parents to attend and help support the event.

Student Ice Cream Party, Friday, August 14

Help us treat our hardworking Marching Hawks by donating ice cream toppings for the students.

Tag Day #1 and #2, Saturday, August 22 & Saturday, August 29

Tag Day is one of our most important fundraisers of the year. Students canvas the community asking for donations, and with 22 routes to cover, we need parent volunteers to drive groups of students to their assigned neighborhoods. Driver training is provided the morning of each Tag Day.

Let’s Band Together

Thanks to everyone who joined the Hayfield Band Boosters at this evening’s parent social! If you missed out, don’t worry—there will be plenty of chances to get to know each other throughout the year. And most importantly, you can join the booster’s email list right here. Share your email address with us in this Google Form. There are only four questions, and two of them are your first and last name!

The QR code on this card links to the same form.

Band Parent Social at Mission BBQ, August 6 at 6 P.M.

Come out for a band parent social Thursday, August 6, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Mission BBQ in the Landsdowne Center across from Wegmans. All families of band students are invited! Come out, meet other band parents, plug in to the volunteer efforts for the band this year. Learn about the upcoming Tag Day fundraiser and make some friends! Families are responsible for their own bill.

Marching Hawks Band Camp Starts August 3

We’re about to kick off the Marching Hawks 2026 season with Band Camp, starting on August 2, 2026!

Attendance

Band Camp occurs 8:00am-4:30pm, Monday-Friday beginning on Monday, August 3, 2026 at Hayfield Secondary School. Attendance at band camp is crucial and required for all members.

The band staff is using something new this year to track absences among the nearly 100 members of the Marching Hawks: an absence notification form. All absences need to be submitted via this form throughout the marching band season. If you have an absence planned, please have your students take a few minutes to enter it into the form. The form has also been posted to Schoology in an update and added to the Schoology Resources folder, if you prefer to access it there.

Meals

While the band will have some snacks available during band camp, meals will not be provided. Students need to have eaten breakfast BEFORE they arrive – a breakfast that will power them through a 3-4 hour morning rehearsal block before lunch. Most issues we have with students having to sit out on the first couple days of camp are when they didn’t eat breakfast. It is important! Lunch will be 45-60 minutes each day and students need to bring their lunches with them for the duration of camp. Please avoid using food delivery services.

Music

Mr. Specketer has posted PDFs of music in the Resources section of the Schoology group. Students can access that at any time, but if there are sections with split parts we will not be able to figure that out until the start of band camp. The band staff will have hard copies of all music on Monday and throughout camp – no need to print at home.

What to Bring

• Water Bottle (Reusable; the bigger, the better!)

• Sunscreen 

• Deodorant (Re-apply when necessary. Stick deodorant only, no aerosols!)

• Athletic shoes (no crocs/converses/slides/etc)

• Binder for Music/Handouts with clear plastic pages

• Hat/Sunglasses

• Cell Phone and Cell Phone Charger (if no cell phone is available we can accommodate!)

• Lunch

• Towel (A beach towel regular bath towel will work, used for sweat/protecting hands while doing aerobics)

• Lip Balm (Recommended with SPF protection)

• Instrument w/ all accessories (Always have a spare reed or valve oil!)

• Pencils 

Boosters Social at Mission BBQ August 6

The Hayfield Band Boosters will be hosting a parent social on Thursday, August 6, 6:00-8:00pm at Mission BBQ in the Landsdowne Center across from Wegmans. All families of band students are invited! Come out, meet other band parents, plug in to the volunteer efforts for the band this year. Families are responsible for their own bill.

Snack Donations

If you happen to go to the store this weekend and you want to support the band with a box of snacks, the band students would greatly appreciate it! Try to avoid snacks including nuts. Students can bring them in Monday morning and we will use them throughout camp.