sciences, and the arts. The school has a concert band, jazz band, marching band, concert choir, and swing choir. The school also offers a variety of athletics including volleyball, football, both men and women's golf, men and women's basketball, wrestling, track and field, softball, baseball, and cross country. Some extracurricular activities that students can become involved in are scholastic bowl, football, basketball, pom poms, cheerleading, flags, majorettes, and musicals. From 1915 to 2009, Aledo High School competed in boys football. They qualified for the state tournament on 17 occasions since the tournament began in 1974. From 1998 to 2006, Aledo High School has reached the finals of five IHSA boys' football championship tournaments. Of those five, the school won three times. Aledo School District #201 and Westmer School District #203 have consolidated since the 2009–2010 school year. The consolidation was voted upon by both school boards and was on the ballot for the 2008 election. The measure passed by a 76% margin. The new consolidated district is Mercer County District #404 and the new mascot adopted by popular vote in early 2009 is the Mercer County Golden Eagles. School colors changed to navy blue and vegas gold. The Class of 2010 had over 120 students, well above the usual average. Culture and media Aledo hosts two annual festivals; the Rhubarb Fest and Antique Days. The Rhubarb festival, which is held every June in the city downtown, offers a variety of rhubarb-related activities, ranging from rhubarb pie sales to free rhubarb seed distributions. The festival additionally offers other crafts and forms of entertainment and music; it has been undertaken every year since 1991. The city of Aledo's Antique Days festivals likewise occur annually in the month of September, and includes a citywide food festival, music from local residents and the high school music departments, and sports competitions among communities in the area. Aledo has its own radio station, WRMJ-FM. WRMJ features country music along with live sports, local news and local programming. It broadcasts on a frequency of 102.3 MHz from a tower west of Aledo. The radio station serves most of Mercer County, and was founded in 1979. Mercer County's weekly newspaper, The Times Record, is based in Aledo and is owned by [[Gannett]]. National Communications Magazine, a publication for radio hobbyists, moved its operations from Ohio to Aledo in 2014 after being acquired by a local resident. References External