The Chilton County High School Band was presented a check for $1,000 from state representative Jimmy Martin and the Education Trust Fund on Wednesday.

The donation will go directly to helping get a new trailer to haul the band equipment from one location to another.

“It’s something that we need, because the band has grown from 65 people my first year to 110 this year,” said Matt Martindale, Director of Bands at Chilton County High School.

The entire program includes about 260 students from sixth grade to seniors in high school.

“I feel that it boils down to kids wanting to be involved with something,” Martindale said. “At the end of the day, they realize that this is a group effort and it is bigger than themselves.”

Martindale enters his fourth year as the high school band director, while a new middle school band director was added this year to help with the continued influx of interest.

“It’s become a sense of pride for me to be able to sit back and see where we have come from, and what we can still become in the future,” Martindale said. “The explosion has really begun to take place this year.”

According to Martindale, the group is also getting new uniforms this year.

“We’re at the size where you can do basically anything that you want to, but you still want to foster them becoming better musicians and not just focused on the music at hand,” Martindale said. “Quantity is awesome, but the quality of our performance has to be there as well.”

This year’s halftime show is scheduled to be American themed.

“The past three years have been a buildup to this point and now this is the base for the next four years.”