Christmas may be long gone and the decorations put away, but the Riverside Academy band delivered a belated gift  with its annual Christmas concert held Jan. 21 in the school gym.

While the performance was postponed due to the Covid-19 epidemic, band director Darryl Clement said he refused t0 cancel it outright.

“We’ve had so much canceled already,” he said.

His students have faced a mountain of adversity, including a months-long layoff, “practices” without instruments and some held outdoors or in separate parts of the school. For a long while, Clement didn’t even know if there would be any band performance this year. But, adapting to Covid protocols, the Marching Pride of Riverside did manage to entertain crowds at all of the Rebels’ home football games.

The Christmas concert was a bonus, with the ensemble performing about a dozen traditional and not-so-traditional holiday tunes.