Kearney High School music students had a day worth singing and playing about at the 2026 Music in the Parks Festival on Saturday, May 9 in Branson!

About 160 KHS Choir and Band students traveled to perform at Ozark High School before spending the rest of the day celebrating together at Silver Dollar City. Even better, our band and choir students got to support each other throughout the day, singing for the band, watching the band perform and showing what makes the KHS music programs so special.

And the results? Well, let’s just say the Bulldogs brought home a whole lot of hardware:

KHS Band:

• First Place — Large Bands
• Sweepstakes — Best High School Band across all classes for the whole weekend

KHS Choirs:

• First Place — Junior High Mixed Choir
• First Place — Men’s Choir
• First Place — Women’s Choir
• First Place — Vocal Jazz
• First Place — Mixed Choir
• First Place — Chamber Choir
• Sweepstakes — Best MS/JH Choir across all classes for the whole weekend — Junior High Mixed Choir
• Sweepstakes — Best High School Choir across all classes for the whole weekend — Chorale

Outstanding Student Accompanist:

• Jack Watts, jazz drummer

KHS Band Director Chris Heil and KHS Choir Director Dustin McKinny shared how proud they were of our students for their performances and also for the way they represented Kearney throughout the trip.

We also want to thank the many parents and chaperones who helped make this experience possible, along with Chris Heil, Jamie Heil, Garrett M. Jones, Jerri Morris and Dustin McKinny for their work supporting and organizing this great learning experience.

Congratulations to all of our KHS music students! You made Bulldog Nation proud!