It’s another busy weekend in Marching Band Land! We’re never sure how this happens, but there are 7 competitions happening across the state. No quips or song lyrics this week, I’ve got none. I’m just going into the details here:
Allendale
It feels like it took a while to get this schedule, but we finally have the Allendale schedule. It’s a small competition, with eight bands in competition. Classes C, B, A, and AA are represented. Competition starts at 10:00AM; Allendale performs at 1:00PM; awards for all classes follows. We noticed an odd 15 minute schedule gap in Class C. Our advise, always, is to arrive early. There is an unlikely situation that Allendale could move bands forward to adjust. My hope is they would move the first two bands back, but we do not have a hand in scheduling — arrive early and you’ll be fine. Here’s the lineup.
Livonia Franklin’s Americana
In possible the most patriot marching competition, this MCBA-sanctioned event sees 17 bands in competition, representing four flights of competition. The event starts at 2:45PM, and competition starts at 3:00PM. Flight order: IV, III, I, II. Three award ceremonies: IV and III at 4:45PM; I at 7:15PM; II at 9:30PM. Full details here.
Belding
This week’s other MCBA contest sees 13 bands in competition, and starts in Belding at 3:45PM. Flights II, III, and IV perform, with their awards ceremony at 5:30PM. Flight V follows, with awards at 8:30PM.
Our always-advice with Belding: arrive early, as most parking is in the surrounded neighborhood on streets, and there is a bit of a hill up to the stadium. Plan accordingly! Here’s the schedule.
Also, hello to all of our friends and followers at Belding!
DeWitt
DeWitt hosts their annual competition this Saturday. Appropriate for October 13, they also have 13 bands in competition. The event starts at 3:55PM; DeWitt performs at 7:45PM. Awards for all classes will follow. See the line-up and details here.
Grandville
Grandville hosts their competition this Saturday. Starting at 2:00PM, there are 21 bands in competition. Class D and C perform first, with awards at 5:00PM. Classes B, A, and AA follow, and their awards will be at 9:30PM. This should be an interesting event if you can attend. Full details are available here.
Lakeshore
Competition in Stevensville starts at 2:15 PM. This competition is a Michigan Marching LIVE! event, and we’ll be there for the entirety, giving commentary and feedback, sharing press-box level photos and video snippets. Go to this page, add the event to your calendar and check back on Saturday for real-time updates!
20 bands will be in attendance, with Class D and B performing first. Their awards are at 5:15PM. Class C and A follow, and their awards are at 9:00PM. There are two bands we want to call out:
- Eau Claire, in Class D: To our knowledge, this is the first time in a VERY long time that they are attending a marching competition. We know they’ve competed in the past, but it has not been during this site’s history. Welcome back, Eau Claire!
- LaPorte (IN), in Class A: Welcome back to LaPorte, a regular (occasional) attendee at Lakeshore’s competition. LaPorte is one of the first cities south of the Michigan-Indiana state line, and we always enjoy when they come. They are a joy to watch, and we hope you all give them a warm Michigan welcome.
Here is the full schedule for Lakeshore this Saturday. Make sure to check-out our live blog. We’ll also go Facebook Live during Awards (weather depending, but it looks slated to be dry) in case you cannot attend!
Lapeer
Starting early, at 10:55AM, Lapeer hosts their competition this Saturday. Please note: This competition is not at Lapeer High School, but at the Lapeer Center for Excellence. In addition to the full line-up, the event page has the map and address for your convenience.
Eerily, 13 bands are also in attendance at this competition (was there a rule?!). Awards for all classes will be at 4:00PM, which follows Lapeer’s performance. This event sees many bands who only compete here. If you’re attending Lapeer and could share band programs (Show Titles and Music selections) with us, it would be strongly appreciated! You don’t even have to be affiliated with that band. Karma is a good thing.
We asked on Facebook if anybody wanted to meet up and do the corn maze at Barbott’s before Lakeshore’s competition, and it was a resounding “No.” So, okay, that’s cool. I don’t have feelings or anything. You all want scores, and show titles, but can’t even give us an hour of a fun, group activity? You’d have gotten buttons for your effort! We could have posted fun group selfies to Instagram. Maybe we would have broken the internet. But that’s fine, that’s good. I can sleep in tomorrow.
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Good luck this Saturday!