Eight local high school band members and auxiliary will join contemporaries from around the state as the Mississippi Lions All-State band tries for a 26th international championship.

Della Loflin, 17, the daughter of Russ and Susan Loflin; Elizabeth Ogle, 17, the daughter of Harry and Vickie Ogle; Lauren Proctor, 15, the daughter of Kenneth and Melissa Proctor; Kevin Patel, 18, the son of Champak and Hema Patel; Aliesha Phillips, 17, the daughter of Henry Phillips and Stephanie Combs; and Conrad Reihsmann, 18, the son of Oscar and Bunny Reihsmann— all of Warren Central’s Big Blue Band and auxiliary — and Shane Bowser, 16, the son of John and Kimberly Bowser; and Darius J. Valentine, 18, the son of Craig Williams and Lillie Valentine — both of the Vicksburg High School Pride Band — will be among 146 members of the statewide honor band who will head July 6 to the 92nd annual Lions Club International Convention in Minneapolis.

Warren Central band director Alan Arendale and Vicksburg band director Terry Steed will represent the bands on the trip. Pearl High School band director Jeff Cannon will manage this year’s Lions Band.

“I couldn’t say enough about them,” Arendale said. “They’re fantastic students, and they’ve earned it.”

Mississippi’s entry into the annual conference historically has been the most formidable since the band was formed by Greenwood band director Roy Martin in 1949 — with the band’s 25 championships coming nearly every other year, including five straight from 2003 to 2007. The band did not attend last year’s convention in Thailand because of safety concerns following political unrest.

“It’s just gotten crazy with the numbers who try out,” Cannon said of the 936 who began tryouts in January for slots in the band after recommendations from respective band directors. “We’re looking forward to it.”

Cannon said members will enjoy a Minnesota Twins-New York Yankees baseball game and a paddleboat cruise while in the Twin Cities area, plus a side trip to Chicago to visit Six Flags Midwest and a showing of the Broadway play “Jersey Boys.”

The cost of the trip, generally around $1,000 per person, is being defrayed for each student by school booster clubs and the Vicksburg Lions Club.

“(The Vicksburg Lions Club) has been supportive financially and every other way,” Cannon said, adding the local club made a notable contribution to the statewide band’s most recent fundraising drive for uniforms.

Three rehearsals by the full band are scheduled before members leave for the Midwest — July 3 at Jones County Junior College, and a pair of July 4 performances at Pearl High School and at The Grove, on the University of Mississippi campus.  

Locales for the annual Lions convention have included stops in Mexico, Australia, England, France, Canada and Taiwan. Inside the U.S., conventions have been held in Boston and Chicago.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com