Junior Jake Henry remembers his previous participation in the band program’s mattress fundraiser, recognizing its significance in providing opportunities for the class to enhance their musical education.

“The mattress sale is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and it tends to be successful,” Henry said. “It goes to our group fund, which parts of go to trips and scholarships, while some of it goes to other stuff.”

According to band director Steven Schmitz, the mattress fundraiser will help pay for a band trip to Winnipeg over Spring Break.

“Currently we’re fundraising for a trip to Winnipeg over spring break in March of 2017,” Schmitz said. “A lot of money for Winnipeg will come off of every kid’s trip, but also a lot of it goes to scholarships for kids who wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise.”

Schmitz said along with collecting money for Winnepeg, the money also goes to busing for field trips band students take locally.

“Money also goes to busing. We got a bus to the Minnesota United FC (football club) game recently, and that would be about a fourth of our instructional budget right there if we didn’t fundraise, for instance,” Schmitz said.

According to Schmitz, despite some minor decreases in sales, the mattress fundraiser has consistently brought in significant profits for the band in previous years.

“(Profits have) always been between $3,000 and $4,000 for the past three sales. It’s always stayed pretty steady,” Schmitz said. “It has gone down a couple of mattresses every time that we do it, despite extra efforts with advertising. So we are trying to figure that out, but it certainly is not at a point that it is not successful.”

According to Henry, band students contribute to the fundraiser in a variety of ways.

“There’s always posting online for social media, and on the day you can go for setup,” Henry said. “You can go to busy street corners and wave signs around for it.”

Schmitz said the fundraiser offers a range of quality products at low prices.

“(The fundraiser) is there all day, and there are all sizes. It’s up to 50 percent off of retail. All the mattresses are American-made in Wisconsin and Michigan with all-American components,” Schmitz said. They are brand-names and they’re all new and there’s warranties, delivery and recycling. It’s really a win-win.”

The mattress sale runs from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Oct. 29 at the high school.