Four Wayne County schools made up one fourth of Indiana State Fair Band Day’s Sweet 16 finalists.
All four of those schools — Centerville, Hagerstown, Northeastern and Richmond — placed in the top 12 of 34 entrants.
Richmond’s James Bond-themed show, “From Richmond With Love,” led the county with seventh place.
The Marching Red Devils were just 0.337 points ahead of Centerville’s eighth-place “Rocky Road” that blended songs from “The Nutcracker” ballet and two films, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “The Greatest Showman.”
Indiana State Fair Band Day results
1: 93.213 points – Anderson
2: 92.338 – Spirit of Muncie
3: 89.488 – Ben Davis
4: 87.988 – Kokomo
5: 86.963 – Winchester
6: 83.975 – Jay County
7: 83.650 – Richmond
8: 83.313 – Centerville
9: 78.775 – Yorktown
10: 77.650 – Hagerstown
11: 77.513 – Mooresville
12: 74.263- Northeastern
13: 72.238 – Montgomery County United
14: 71.625 – Monroe Central
15: 70.075 – West Lafayette
16: 68.550 – Marion
Hagerstown’s Appalachian-themed “Bad Moon Rising: Strange Tales from the Hills,” finished 10th.
Northeastern’s blend of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, called “The Edge of Darkness,” earned 12th.
Lincoln Middle/High School finished 28th in the morning contest of 34 bands with its “Zoinks” show that combined “Scooby-Doo” and KISS rock tunes.
Neighboring counties also make Band Day a tradition.
Randolph County sent three bands; Winchester and Monroe Central reached the finals.
Winchester finished fifth overall. During preliminaries, The Force was named top Class AA (mid-sized) band and won first-place awards for percussion, color guard, music, visual and general effect. Centerville finished second overall after being AA champion for 12 consecutive years.
Monroe Central earned 14th overall, and in preliminaries, was named the top small (Class A) band. Randolph Southern finished 26th.
Henry County also sent two bands. Tri finished 21st and was second overall in Class A preliminaries. The Crimson Crusaders (combining Blue River Valley and Shenandoah) finished 27th.
Full results are available at indianatrackmarchingbands.com.
Find more photos and information in the Aug. 12 edition of Western Wayne News.
Wayne County sends 4 to Sweet 16
The below results were originally published Friday evening, Aug. 7.
Wayne and Randolph counties are well represented in Indiana State Fair Band Day’s Sweet 16 evening competition.
Four of Wayne County’s public high school bands – Centerville, Hagerstown, Northeastern and Richmond – all finished in the top 16 at the Friday, Aug, 7, daytime contest.
They qualified for the 8 p.m. competition.
Performance times:
- 8 p.m. – Monroe Central
- 8:09 – West Lafayette
- 8:18 – Hagerstown
- 8:27 – Northeastern
- 8:36 – Yorktown
- 8:45 – Montgomery County United
- 8:54 – Mooresville
- 9:03 – Marion
- 9:12 – Break
- 9:32 – Centerville
- 9:41 – Muncie Central
- 9:50 – Richmond
- 9:59 – Anderson
- 10:08 – Ben Davis
- 10:17 – Kokomo
- 10:26 – Winchester Community
- 10:35 – Jay County
Evening awards will be announced at approximately 11 p.m.
Live Band Day coverage is available via radio at ESPN Radio WKBV 1490AM/100.9FM and Star 98.3 WZZY and at todaysmusicmix.com.
Lincoln Middle/High School finished 28th.
Randolph County also has two bands in the finals – Winchester and Monroe Central.
Winchester won first place in the Class 2A morning contest for mid-sized bands and Centerville finished second. Monroe Central was first in Class A for the smallest schools.
Randolph Southern finished 26th.
Henry County also had two bands competing Friday. Tri finished 21st overall, and second in the morning Class A awards. Henry County Crimson Crusaders were 27th in the 34-band field.
Morning Awards
Percussion
Class A – Decatur County Greensburg
AA – Winchester
AAA – Muncie Central
Color guard
Class A – Monroe Central
AA – Winchester
AAA – Muncie Central
Music
Class A – Monroe Central
AA – Winchester
AAA- Anderson
Visual
Class A – Monroe Central
AA – Winchester
AAA – Muncie Central
General effect
Class A – Monroe Central
AA – Winchester
AAA – Anderson
Overall Awards
Class A
3rd – Decatur County
2nd place – Tri
1st place – Monroe Central
Class AA
3rd place – Mooresville
2nd place – Centerville
1st place – Winchester
Class AAA
3rd place – Ben Davis
2nd place – Muncie Central
1st place – Anderson
Updated Saturday, Aug. 8, at 11:09 a.m. to correct the list of schools from Wayne County that advanced to the Sweet 16. They were Centerville, Hagerstown, Northeastern and Richmond.
A version of this article appeared in the August 12 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
