(Photo provided) Steel drum playing students are getting ready for the annual Festival of Steel Concert at 1 p.m. Saturday at John Marshall High School. Front row, from left, are Savannah Potts, Abby Allman and Alina Holliday. Back row, from left, are Blake Fritzman, Ezra Summers and Ella Riggle.

GLEN DALE – This Saturday’s seventh annual Festival of Steel concert will benefit two programs that help students in need at John Marshall High School and Wheeling Park High School.

The concert kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday at JMHS gymnasium in Glen Dale. The cost is $5, but school activity passes can also be used. Elevator access is available.

Tracey Filben, director of bands for JMHS, said proceeds from this year’s concert will benefit JM’s Paws for a Cause and Park’s Hearts for Park. Both groups provide students with items such as toiletries, clothing, school supplies and more.

Steel casa bands set to perform will include those from JMHS and Wheeling Park, along with Bridge Street Middle School, Wheeling Middle School and Sherrard Middle School. A professional band, Steel Cassa, is slated to play, too.

The finale will feature all the bands playing an arrangement together, she noted. There will also be concessions, raffles, prizes, such as swimming pool passes from Oglebay and Grand Vue Park, and more. The setting is casual and people are welcome to dance in the gym.

“It’s full but it’s not loud because they are not amplified,” she said. “Steel drums are acoustic.”

Filben said the concert is a high-energy, fun activity that leaves people humming and tapping their feet and in a good mood.

“This is a really fun event that we all look forward to because it’s just a great time,” Filben said. “It’s not competitive in nature. Everyone is there rooting for each other – so I think that’s important for kids today. But also we have a lot of opportunities for our kids to receive help, and I think kids feel good when they can provide help. It’s just like giving and receiving gifts; most people feel the best when they can give a gift rather than receive it. So we are able to use a wonderful, fun event to give more than we receive.”