Los Alamos High Band hosts fourth annual mattress sale Saturday

Families already planning a mattress purchase have a chance to keep that money in Los Alamos and help student musicians at the same time when the Los Alamos High School Band holds its fourth annual Mattress Sale Saturday in Griffith Gym.

The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Los Alamos High School, and organizers say it will feature more than 25 mattress styles, along with pillows and mattress protectors. The mattresses are shipped directly to the customer’s home, which makes the fundraiser more practical than a typical bake sale or car wash for households that need to replace a bed anyway.

The event has become a recurring source of support for a program that depends on more than ticket sales and school budgets. The Los Alamos Band Boosters describe themselves as a nonprofit group of parents and guardians that supports both Los Alamos Middle School and Los Alamos High School band programs. Their fundraising helps cover instructors, equipment, contest entry fees, transportation, food for competitions, professional development for directors and larger student trips. For color guard, the boosters note expenses can also include costumes, flags, poles and accessories.

Saturday’s sale also includes a 10% discount for LAPS faculty and staff, police, fire, EMS and military, a local touch that widens the customer base beyond band families. That matters in a county where one student program’s fundraiser can draw parents, alumni and residents who may not have a child in the band but still want to back a visible part of school life.

The mattress sale comes just two days after Los Alamos High School’s Arts & Music Festival, which underscored how active the school’s arts calendar has been this week. It also fits into a pattern that has turned the mattress fundraiser into an annual tradition, rather than a one-time promotion. For Los Alamos High School Band students, the sale is another reminder that uniforms, travel, clinics and instruments are often paid for not just by school funding, but by the repeated work of boosters and volunteers.