As Football Season Approaches, Lindsey Wilson University Blue Raider Band Members Show Off New Uniforms

Band members celebrate 'an amazing investment the university has made in you all.'

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (08/03/2026) — The Lindsey Wilson University Blue Raider Band won't perform in their new uniforms until the football team's Aug. 27 season-opener at Parnell Family Stadium.

But a select group of people got to see some members of the Blue Raider Band show off the new musical outfits on Sunday, Aug. 2, in the Blue Raider Band Building.

"I'm super excited to have them, and I'm really thankful we have new uniforms," said Dante Eads '29, a biology major from Russell Springs, Kentucky, who plays saxophone in the band. "I'm glad to be part of it."

The Blue Raider Band's new uniforms, which were voted on by the band members, feature the colors blue, white, gray, silver and black. The Lindsey Wilson Blue Raider logo is emblazoned on the uniform's left breast, and it is topped with a cavalier hat trimmed with a feather, which connects band members to the Lindsey Wilson athletics mascot, Blue Raider Bob, whose cavalier also includes a feather.

In addition to the hats, the new uniforms also include rain jackets. Members of the color guard and the drum major also received new uniforms.

"This is an amazing investment the university has made in you all," Lindsey Wilson Director of Bands Robert Palmer told the band members who attended the Sunday event.

Palmer said that investment was earned thanks to a 2025-26 season that included making "great strides in morale, fantastic performances and fantastic community outreach."

"There are a lot of really exciting things in store for us this year," he said.

'Really cool uniforms'

The uniform hat's nod to Blue Raider Bob's costume is what had Jewel Hines '29 of Greensburg, Kentucky, eager to celebrate new uniforms at the Sunday gathering.

"I'm really excited for them," said Hines, a women's and gender studies major who plays trombone. "I think they are really cool uniforms, especially the calvary hat. I like matching with Bob."

The Blue Raider Band -- which will number around three dozen members this year -- will perform a few times in August in the region before the Lindsey Wilson football team opens its 2026 season at home against Reinhardt (Georgia) University. But the new uniforms won't be worn in public until the 6 p.m. CT football game on Aug. 27.

"Our primary duty as a marching band is to excite the crowds at our home football games," said Palmer. "And we owe it to our Columbia-Adair County fans for them to see us first in action."

"The Light We Follow" will be the title of the Blue Raider Band's halftime show at this year's football games, a tribute to songs that center around the sun or inspired by the sun. Some of the songs that will be part of the performance include the American folk song "The House of the Rising Sun," which was made popular by the 1960s British rock group The Animals; the 1985 pop song "Walking on Sunshine" by the British pop group Katrina and the Waves; and "Walking on the Moon" by the British New Wave band The Police.

Returning as the Blue Raider Band's drum major in 2026-27 will be Carlee Huckaby '29, a human services and counseling major from Columbia.

Huckaby said "it feels really good" to start the 2026-27 school with new uniforms.

"It's fun to be part of making history," she said.

An opportunity to be part of Blue Raider history is also what excited Sophia Duff '29, an elementary education major from Russell Springs, Kentucky, who plays the flute.

"I like the new design of the uniforms. I really like the sparkles," she said. "It's fun knowing that we are part of history because we are the first to wear the new uniforms. Knowing you are part of that is something."

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