It was a tale of two musicians, two pies and one glorious mess that resulted in the day the band kids conquered more than just complex time signatures.
Dane Bowman, a trumpet player, and Sambela Aziz, a trombone player, had already marched nearly five miles to and from the high school for the annual 4th of July parade, their instruments gleaming and their shirts wilted. But as they approached the Town & Country parking lot’s main stage at 3 p.m., they weren’t thinking about their tired feet or the sweat dripping from their brows. They were thinking about pie.
“I’m so hungry, I haven’t eaten all day!” Bowman said.
When state Rep. Greg Nance started the first round of the competition, Bowman approached his marionberry pie like it was a challenging solo. When the timer sounded, his pie tin was as empty as the silence after a perfect final note.
“The band is the winner!” Nance declared, as Bowman jumped for joy, his marionberry-stained face beaming with pride.
But the real drama was yet to come. The finals pitted Aziz against the BHS track team’s hungriest competitor. The pies vanished in a blur of flying filling and determined chewing. When the timer sounded, it was too close to call. After some discussion among the judges, the announcer asked the crowd if they wanted a tie or 30 more seconds to decide the winner. The crowd asked for 30 more seconds.
Bainbridge Island Mayor Ashley Mathews announced, “We’re adding 30 seconds to the clock,” as if it were sudden-death overtime.
Aziz and the track athlete hunkered down and attacked their remaining pie while the crowd held its breath like an audience waiting for a soloist to nail a difficult passage. When the final timer rang, there was no question. Aziz had cleaned his plate.
“Yay! Band!” Mathews declared.
Astonished by his victory, Aziz looked up with purple filling covering his face as Bowman rushed over and the two friends embraced in a victory hug.
“That’s my guy!” Bowman shouted. The crowd erupted in cheers. The $500 prize was theirs and would provide funding for the Bainbridge Band Boosters.
Nancy Treder is president of Bainbridge High School Instrumental Music Boosters.
