Members of the Washington High School marching band perform at Spirit Night. Photo by Sally Y. Hart

The Marching Demon Nation will be performing their field show depicting the ancient Greek battle at Thermopylae at the state festival this weekend. Washington will take the field at 12:35 p.m. Saturday at the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Band Festival at Pella High School. Their aim is to get a Division I rating. Last weekend, Washington placed fourth at Muscatine. So far this season the Marching Demon Nation has placed second at Ft. Madison where they received the outstanding 3A drum major award, placed fifth at Mt. Pleasant, and placed second at the Davis County Festival of Bands where they won the Fan Favorite Award for the second year in a row.