The Starr’s Mill High School marching band held their second largest fundraiser of the year, the Spring Sampler, at The Fred Amphitheater on April 29.

This event provides a fair balance of food, music, and advertisement. “The Spring Sampler is where we ask local restaurants to come and donate food,” head of Spring Sampler Becky Garcia said. “It highlights their food while at the same time it highlights our bands as they perform and show off their talents.”

Not only does this Spring Sampler demonstrate talents in the Panther Pride Marching Band, it also stands as a large contributing factor to the funds needed to keep the band playing.

Many students at the Mill have musical tastes, and these tastes come with a rather large price. “Our purpose behind this is to help raise money to pay for fees, music, and instruments,” Garcia said.

Aside from the Spring Sampler, the Starr’s Mill high school marching band also relies heavily on profits made from football concessions, which is their biggest source of fundraising.

Though the Spring Sampler may not be the biggest event, it surely is not the smallest. A fundraiser this size requires help from many people.

From organizing to eating, Panther Pride successfully recruited 14 local restaurants willing to donate food in exchange for advertisement. “We had restaurants that were in attendance like Sushi Tomi, Spice Market International, Chicken Salad Chixx, and Simply Michelle,“ Garcia said. “A lot of our restaurants are locally owned which is great because we want to support those local businesses.”

The restaurants who participate in this event have agreed to donate a generous amount of their food for free to support the Starr’s Mill band. Earnings are made through the tickets students and families of Starr’s Mill purchase to participate in the gathering. “Every ticket has five choices and a drink,” head of concessions for marching band Paula Branski said. “The price of the tickets is what generates the fundraiser for band.”

A persistent effort is surely what it takes to fulfill the needs of the Mill’s musical students. Communication plays a crucial role for the success of this event. “We try to talk to as many of the restaurants in the Peachtree City area as we can,” Garcia said.  “It takes a lot of folks to go out there, talk to them [restaurants] and get them to commit.”

The number of restaurants that committed was enough to make another successful Spring Sampler.  “It went really well. We have already made notes for next year,” band director Scott King said. “It’s getting better every year.”