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As the day lengthens and the twilight deepens, families collect themselves and break away from amusements and food booths at the old fairground to make their way to the grandstand. There, they hope to find a good seat to watch one of the most popular thrill events of the Washington County Agricultural Fair -- a school bus demolition derby.

The derby has become a big draw for the annual fair. Now in its fifth year, the Wednesday derby tends to make that night one of the best attended of the whole fair, which opened yesterday and will run through Saturday.

Among those who gather to watch the derby are area high school students who have just completed their marching band competition. Whether sitting in clusters in the bleachers, or scattered singly on the grassy slopes, the band members take a keen interest in the derby.

"They really get into this," said Kathy Doty, assistant marching band director at Chartiers-Houston High School. "It's really big -- huge."

Though the school whose bus is the last one running will reap a $500 prize for its band boosters, the students have another motivation for their cheering and their suspense. Each band has made its bus uniquely its own. A week before the derby, all 10 bands gather on the fair grounds to paint their respective buses.

After a full day at band camp, the students spend a couple of hours with brushes and rollers (no spray cans allowed) disguising the familiar school bus yellow. By the time they are done, they have painted a rainbow of colors in a bewildering array of letters and shapes and figures. This competition has come to be called Signature Night, and each band does its best to brand its bus.

Andrew Bilitski, a senior in the California Area High School marching band, has been participating in this event since seventh grade.

"Groups will call a section of the bus and paint it," he said.

Trumpets might get the back, for instance, and the drum line takes the roof. Beckie Evans, California Area High School senior drum major, says the band members can get painted almost as much as the bus does.

"Though the band parents tell us not to, sometimes you just can't help but yell somebody's name and throw some paint at them as they turn around to see who called."

A number of California Area band members take part in Signature Night, but some of the schools let only upperclassmen offer their touch. Zach Simpson, a senior who plays the tuba for Chartiers-Houston, thinks that's the better way.

"Only juniors and seniors paint, and it keeps us real organized. Most of the other schools bring their whole band, and that can be pure chaos."

He might be right -- his band won the $100 first prize for Best Decorated Bus last year.

School spirit shines through the chaos, though. After the Bentworth band chanted a school cheer last year, Simpson got his own school chanting. Each school followed.

"It went the whole way down the line," he said. "It was neat."

The fair scours several states to find old, out-of-service buses, and has paid up to $1,200 for a bus, according to fair board secretary Nadene Gardner. Bus companies and junk yards can be good sources, but most of the buses are acquired from school districts in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Before the buses get painted, they must have been readied for the rough and tumble of the derby. Gary Woodruff, of the fair's staff, said, "We tear out all the windows, except the windshield. And take out all the lights, except the blinking lights on front. Where they are, they can't get hit."

David Cowden, vice president of the fair board, said, "You can't hit near the driver, and you can't hit head-on."

The long back end of the bus makes an effective battering ram and a big target. Cowden has driven in the bus derby in the past, and has also driven in car demolition derbies.

"The bus derby is a little bit different," he said. "By the time you get yourself lined up, they might be somewhere else. It takes a little bit of thinking."

Most of the bus derby drivers have driven in car derbies, too, including Woodruff. "Driving the bus, you get more of a solid hit," he noted. "It's like driving and hitting a big wall. No give. At least for the first few hits."

Most of the buses take a lot of hits. With 10 schools in the competition, two preliminary heats are held, five buses apiece. After those heats, the buses that can still move continue to the final. "We're there to put on a good, long show for the spectators," said Cowden. The last bus that can go on its own power is the winner. Last year, California Area won the $500 prize.

The popular thrill event will be held again this year at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the arena at the fairground, located on Washington's North Main Street. This year's theme for painting the buses is Animated Cartoon Characters. The participating schools are: Avella, Bentworth, Beth-Center, Burgettstown, California Area, Charleroi Area, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, Peters Township and Ringgold.

For more information, call 724-225-7718, or visit www.washingtonfair.org.

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