By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

More than 400 former Marion High School classmates and other people who heard the music, grabbed their chairs and blankets and had an enthusiastic, if loud, finale for Old Settlers Day.

The Banned, a Wichita band that performs 1980s rock ’n’ roll, took to the stage Saturday at Marion County Lake to perform for the appreciative crowd.

At first, the classes of 2003 and 2013, which had dinner in the lake hall, wandered outside to get settled to hear the music.

Class of 2008 and class of 1993 members joined the crowd close to 8 p.m. when The Banned started playing.

Then, hundreds of cars brought other people to hear the music, some coming well after the playing and singing began.

Lead singer Shannon Grate said the ensemble formed 18 years ago. Membership has changed over those years. The same musicians have made up The Banned during the past five years.

Asked why the group chose its name, Grate said its members had been banned from many places.

He and lead guitarist Jordan Bollig exchanged lively jibes over how Bollig learned to play guitar.

Grate said he’d had to teach Bollig everything about playing the instrument.

Bollig swore he had a master’s degree in music.

Then the jibes turned to other subjects.

Grate said he would pose for photos while the band performed.

Bollig said he would pay $5 to get a photo of the back of Grate’s head in the newspaper. Grate said he’d pay $10 to skip that photo.

The concert was a rollicking end to a day of catching up with old friends, finding out what people had done with their lives, seeing how they now looked, having lunch at Central Park, and riding in a downtown parade.

The oldest class to ride the downtown parade was the class of 1958. The youngest class was this year’s freshmen.

After the parade, many graduates met at Central Park for a lunch sponsored by Marion Kiwanis and for class recognitions at 2 p.m.

Kids:

Class of 1948:

by riding in chairs in the back of a Camaro.

Butt: