October 24, 2023

Dear Pride Supporter:

Last week we announced an important update for the planned location of the Pride Practice Field and Facility for our beloved West Virginia University Mountaineer Marching Band.

The field and facility project will now be housed at Mylan Park providing a dedicated space for the band. Phase one of this project will be completed by August 2024, allowing the band to practice on the turf-field much sooner than anticipated. 

As we continued to plan for a new practice facility, several issues evolved with the on-campus site. Priority usage could not be guaranteed. There were concerns with drainage from the site into neighboring areas. And there were doubts we would have enough space to build the storage facility. The University approached Mylan Park with the option of building the practice field and facility there. After several conversations, the decision was made to enter into the partnership agreement. Mylan Park has made the land available to the University. The donations that have been made will still be used to build the turf-field. Let me be clear we are not spending donations on purchasing land.

The move brings many advantages including priority scheduling during the season and the summer and no concerns about site drainage issues. In addition, Park Pavilion, a nearly 9,000 square foot structure, stands next to the land made available by Mylan Park and the band will be able to use the Pavilion in case of inclement weather. The new site at Mylan Park also provides more space for the second phase of the project, a temperature-controlled storage building for uniforms and instruments.

This partnership with Mylan Park is more cost-effective, allows us to expedite the timeline and guarantees priority usage. This location also allows our band to have an even greater presence in the community and we believe that may contribute to new partnerships with high school bands creating a new talent pipeline.

We are extremely grateful for the generous donations from supporters like you made though the WVU Foundation or WVU Alumni Band. We want to assure you that those gifts will still be used to fund the turf-field which will be known as Don Wilcox Field at Mylan Park, as well as other needs that will enable our band to practice at its new home by next summer.

Mylan Park is less than five miles from campus and already home to WVU swimming and diving, cross country and track and field. Naturally, we are aware of the enhanced transportation needs associated with this move and are planning accordingly. We will communicate those details as soon as they are finalized.

This is an exciting time for the Mountaineer Marching Band, and we hope you can share in the excitement and the advantages this new site will provide for our students. We will continue to share updates with you ahead of a planned groundbreaking for the Pride Practice Field and Facility to be held in early 2024.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to wvuband@mail.wvu.edu.

Let’s go! 

Keith Jackson

Philip J. Faini/Falbo Family Dean

College of Creative Arts