40 years ago: Thousands of young musicians to fill KU stadium on Band Day

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Sept. 18, 1972:

  • With a local referendum on the ballot tomorrow, County Clerk Delbert Mathia was estimating a turnout of 7,000 voters. About 60 absentee ballots had already been cast in the election, which was to determine the fate of a 1,780-acre area that had been annexed into the city. Kansas Power and Light Co.’s generating plant was in the annexed area, and KPL had asked the Kansas Corporation Commission for a 10 1/2 percent surcharge on Lawrence customer bills to offset higher city taxes if the annexation were sustained by the referendum.
  • About 80 visiting bands composed of more than 7,000 participants were expected to be on the field at half-time during the upcoming Kansas-Wyoming game. Bob Foster, director of the Kansas University bands, said that 5,774 young people would be playing instruments, while more than 80 drum majors and 500 twirlers and pom-pon girls were to be on the track. The bands were to march in a parade through downtown Lawrence earlier in the day, but on an altered route due to the ongoing construction project on Massachusetts Street.