It all comes down to Friday for Wayne County high school marching bands.
The Indiana State Fair Band Day competition for 39 bands starts at 9 a.m. Friday. The overall champion will be crowned at about 11 p.m. after the Sweet 16 finals. Class and other awards along with the Sweet 16 finalists, will be announced at about 4:45 p.m.
Class sizes are used only for awards during the preliminary round of competition and are based upon the number of wind and percussion playing members in the band. Class A bands have 25 or fewer players; Class AA bands have 26 to 50; and Class AAA bands have 50 or more.
The Sweet 16 selected for the evening finals are chosen based upon their overall scores, without regard for class placement.
Five Wayne County bands will be in the competition. They and six regional bands have been honing their performances in Central Indiana Track Show Association contests since mid-July.
The Wayne County bands and their shows include Centerville, “Safe”; Hagerstown, “Lighting the Way”; Lincoln, “Nautical Nonsense”; Northeastern, “What Will Your Verse Be?”; and Richmond, “Superstars!” (Previews of each show are on Pages 15-17 inside.)
Regional bands participating include the Henry County Crimson Crusaders, a new summer band formed from from Blue River Valley, Knightstown, Shenandoah and Tri high schools, performing “Nove: A Brave New World”; Connersville, “Champions”; Monroe Central, “Mars”; Randolph Southern, performing “Together”; and Union County, performing “Step.”
In 2021, the marching season concluded at Band Day with Centerville finishing second overall and winning Class AA, Northeastern finishing seventh, Richmond finishing 13th and Lincoln finishing 27th. Hagerstown was unable to compete because of a COVID quarantine.
Muncie Central won the 2021 Band Day competition. Other regional participants competing included Winchester, third; Monroe Central, 14th overall and first in Class A, and Connersville, 31st.
During the final weekend of CITSA competition, Centerville finished fourth and Richmond finished sixth at the Anderson contest. Among regional competitors Monroe Central finished ninth and the Henry County united group finished 18th.
At the Winchester contest, Northeastern finished sixth, Richmond finished eighth, Hagerstown finished 19th and Hagerstown finished 20th. Among regional competitors, Winchester was second, Monroe Central, ninth; Randolph Southern, 13th; Henry County united, 15th; and Union County, 18th.
BAND DAY SCHEDULE
Indiana State Fair Band Day competition begins at 9 a.m. Friday at the grandstand with the Cowan-Daleville Unified Marching Band. Randolph Southern is the final competitor of the day at 4:12 p.m.
Class awards, awards for placement from 17 to 25, and Sweet 16 qualifiers announced at about 4:45 p.m.
Sweet 16 competition begins at 8 p.m.
Wayne County competitors:
>> Richmond, Class AAA, 10:12 a.m.
>> Hagerstown, Class A, 11:57 a.m.
>> Lincoln, Class A, 1:42 p.m.
>> Centerville, Class AA, 2:36 p.m.
>> Northeastern, Class AA, 4:03 p.m.
Regional competitors:
>> Union County, Class A, 11:12 a.m.
>> Winchester, Class AAA, 1:24 p.m.
>> Monroe Central, Class A, 1:51 p.m.
>> Henry County, Class AA, 2 p.m.
>> Connersville, Class AA, 3:18 p.m.
>> Randolph Southern, Class A, 4:12 p.m.