By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
jnewell@mihomepaper.com
DETROIT — Go Dragons! The Lake Orion High School Marching Band finished fourth in the state at the Michigan Competing Band Association state finals on Nov. 2 at Ford Field.
This is the seventh time in the past eight years that the Dragons have finished in the top five in the state.
Walled Lake High School won the 2024 state finals with a score of 92.2; Rockford High School was second with a score of 90.9; Plymouth-Canton High School was third with a score of 89.75; and Lake Orion High School was fourth with a score of 87.7 in Flight I.
The state marching band championship is broken up into “flights,” which are divisions distinguished by the size of the student body at each school. Flight I is for schools with the largest student populations.
The Lake Orion Marching Band, under the direction of Michael Steele, is consistently ranked as one of the top marching bands in the state.
In 2023 the marching band was third in the state; in 2022 the Dragons finished second; in 2021, the band placed third; in 2019, the band was second; in 2018 Lake Orion finished fourth at the MCBA state finals; and in 2017 the Dragons were third place.
The public can next see the band perform in the Orion Lighted Christmas Parade on Dec. 7.

Cory Smith is the senior staff writer at the Daily News in Greenville, a View Newspaper Group publication. His news beats include the city of Greenville, education, local township government, breaking news, photography and multimedia.