The thunder of booming drums will reverberate through the air during the Oct. 4 annual Cavalcade of Bands in Kennewick.

But there will be none quite like the Big Drum which has marched to its own drumbeat dating back more than six decades at Kennewick High School.

Since the 1960s, Kennewick High’s band has been known not only for its music and reputation, but also for featuring one of the most unique musical instruments ever to appear on the Tri-City high school music scene.

The Big Drum came out of the fertile musical mind of Hampton Wines, who from 1954-61 worked as band director of Kennewick High.

Brought back to life on more than one occasion over the years, the Big Drum remains today a part of the Kennewick High band ensemble and is known affectionately as The Big Boom.

Wines saw large drums at other schools and colleges and wanted Kennewick to have its own.

The Lions bought the Big Drum for $2,500 on April 9, 1961. Shipping and insurance added another $175 to the cost.

Kennewick High’s marching band and another band called the Klassics headed up a campaign to raise the money that included selling 10,000 cans of Almond Roca candy for 50 cents apiece. Performing as members of the Klassics were some members of the marching band.

Ordered through a downtown Kennewick store, Tri-City Music Center, the drum measured 7 feet in diameter and was made by the Evans Drum Company in Dodge City, Kansas. The large drumheads were made of plastic.

The band’s first performance using the instrument was at Spokane’s Lilac Festival Parade in May 1961, followed by Portland’s Rose Festival Parade in June 1961.

Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade that year was Lorne Green, famous for playing the patriarch of the Cartwright clan on the popular television series, “Bonanza.” He had his picture taken standing beside the Big Drum.

John Williams, a 1961 Kennewick High graduate, painted the original Lion mascot on the Big Drum, while the “Kennewick Lions Marching Band” fine lettering on the drum was inscribed by Don Gerards, also a class of ’61 graduate, who was both a clarinet player and snare drummer. Before Wines left Kennewick High, the Big Drum was dedicated to him, and he received a plaque from those he taught.

The Big Drum on display at the East Benton County Historical Museum at Keewaydin, 205 Keewaydin Drive, Kennewick. 

| Courtesy East Benton County Historical Museum

Restoration and repairs

The drum was displayed at special events, games and parades for years. On occasion, during football games, a cadre from the marching band formed a blockade to ensure its safety. It once was vandalized and its heads slashed. 

When the Kennewick High album for the 1961-62 school year was compiled, the cover featured the marching band and their Big Drum.

In the 1970s, the Big Drum was placed in storage and largely faded from memory. When later discovered, consideration was given to selling it until protests put a stop to the idea.

Removed from storage in 1982, a restoration project brought the Big Drum back to life from its years of inattention and decay. Former Kennewick High grads from four different classes got involved.

They included Ed Alden and Dennis Hardke from the class of 1962; Jim Bateman and John Moreno from 1966; Pat Mokler, class of 1970; and Art Spooner, class of 1972. Their names were sealed within the Big Drum.

Their work included interior and exterior reconstruction resulting in a perfectly circular drum and strengthened features to maintain the instrument’s integrity.

The drum had become to many a powerful symbol of pride and school unity, as one Kennewick High alumnus said.

The Big Drum again faded from sight until it was rediscovered in 1999 by a percussion student above the stage in Kennewick High’s Fuller Auditorium. A new team of restorers brought it back to its old glory in time for the 2000 All-Class Reunion of Kennewick High.

This restoration project included placing two new specially manufactured 7-foot drumheads from the Reno Drum Co., each costing $600. The damaged drumheads had been painted by Moreno, who worked on the original restoration project.

One of those replaced and painted by Moreno is now on public display in the school section of the East Benton County Historical Museum at Keewaydin, 205 Keewaydin Drive in Kennewick. 

The KHS Big Boom continues to be a point of pride and symbol of the band’s long tradition of excellence.

Gale Metcalf of Kennewick is a lifelong Tri-Citian, retired Tri-City Herald employee and volunteer for the East Benton County Historical Museum. He writes the monthly history column.