WAYNE COUNTY, Pa. — Whether to have fall sports was a big question this summer, let alone having people in the stands.
The Western Wayne High School's marching band was hoping there would be a way to perform during football games.
Band director, Elaine Ort, did some research to bring the school spirit safely.
"We needed to be able to contain the aerosols coming out of the bells of the instruments, so they recommended bell covers for the brass, and then there was an initial bell cover for woodwinds as well, then that expanded into the woodwind bags," said Ort.
Whether they're playing on the field or in the stands, it's obviously a little hard to play an instrument with masks on. That's when they got a little creative.
"This is the players' masks and all the kids get these and they overlap and wrap around the mouthpiece and then close on top of that to keep all the aerosols in," continued Ort.
The band parents helped collect and cut fabric, then sew the covers and bags for each instrument, all to get them finished so they could practice before the season started.
Once the marching band was able to perform at the first home game, the reality of not having a crowd to play for set in.
"It felt weird. There were less people in the stands. Not all of our families could be there, but I was just so happy to be able to do anything at all and to have some sort of sense of normalcy," said Western Wayne senior, Alyssa Donnini.
"We all are the puzzle pieces to the game that makes the entire Western Wayne spirit experience whole. Just that we're all there together and that there's even Homecoming too is really great," Western Wayne senior, Rhonda Fenkner.
The Western Wayne Marching Band's next pandemic performance at home is next Friday, November 6th.