HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Band Director Anthony Darnall just finished his tenth year with the Christian County Colonel Band and is preparing students for their farewell season with an emotional tribute to school’s legacy.
With the new Christian County High School opening in fall 2026, the upcoming school year marks the final time that CCHS and HHS will operate separately before merging into a combined school. The marching band currently has 112 members and is expected to nearly double when they blend with the Band of Tigers. To acknowledge this milestone, the Christian County Colonel Band has announced their carefully curated theme for the upcoming season as, “One Last Time.”
“This is the last year of the Christian County Colonel Band, so we thought that tying that into our show theme would make for an impactful show for the community and for the students,” Darnall told Christian County Now. “We hope it’s a powerful show.”
Song choices and competition season
The colors they will be displaying and the songs the band will be performing were all chosen to convey the theme and memorialize the legacy of the band. An omega symbol will also be heavily present in the show design to represent the end. Each song the students will march to on the field this season was chosen with the theme in mind, each focusing on ending and saying goodbye.
This includes “In the End” by Linkin Park, “Apocalypse Please” by Muse, “Who Wants to Live Forever” by Queen, “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, “Bye Bye Bye” from NYSYC, and the finale with Europe’s “The Final Countdown”.
Band camp will kick off in July where students begin several weeks of intense training leading up to the fall. He said students are excited to take to the field this final season, but he feels that the full weight of being the last Christian County Colonel Band has not quite hit them yet. Despite the heavy emotion they are holding this season, the band will continue their competition season as usual, including large scale competitions in Georgia and Indiana.
“We have high expectations every year and I don’t think that the standard of excellence that I hold the kids to will change,” Darnall said. “My philosophy is very simple, just give the kids the best band experience we can and get them to be the best versions of themselves. That’s not going to change.”
Find out about upcoming performances, competitions, and ways to support the band on the Christian County Colonel Band Facebook page.
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