This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, over 90 bands will head to Indianapolis, IN to vie for the coveted title of BOA Grand Nationals Champion. Walled Lake Central, Jenison, Lakeland, Grant, Reeths-Puffer, Mt. Pleasant, Plymouth-Canton, and Lake Orion are the 8 bands that will be representing Michigan in this three-day competition this year.
BOA Grand Nationals is a three-part contest: Thursday and Friday Preliminary competition; Saturday Semifinals competition; and Saturday Finals competition. In each Preliminary competition, 45 bands will compete. Formulas set up by BOA allow a minimum of the 30 top-scoring bands (regardless of class) to advance to semifinals. Should Classes not be represented, there is the potential for class advancing bands, and up to 36 bands in semifinals competition.
Semifinals bands compete, and the top 12 (again, regardless of class) advance to Saturday evening’s Finals competition, where the top scoring band will earn the title of Grand Nationals Champion. [Note: after Semifinals, Class Placements (top 3) and Caption Awards for each class are awarded – this is the only time that Class is truly considered, and is done through tabulation. Class Champions, should they not advance to Finals by way of “top 12 score” will be invited to perform in exhibition during the Finals event.]
We have the schedule for Prelims available already. However, due to the nature of this competition format, we will not know Semifinals’ schedule until Friday, and we will not know Finals’ schedule until Saturday. We are heading down for Saturday’s events, and will attempt to post on the site and our social media the active results.
Times of Michigan Concern:
Thursday Prelims:
12:15 PM – Walled Lake Central, “Par 5”
03:00 PM – Jenison, “Tales of Arabia”
06:00 PM – Lakeland, “Superstitions”
08:30 PM – Grant, “Black Swan”
09:45 PM – Reeths-Puffer, “The Dance”
11:15 PM – Mt. Pleasant, “Fragile Oasis”
Friday Prelims:
03:30 PM – Plymouth-Canton, “Don’t Bother, They’re Here”
06:45 PM – Lake Orion, “The People vs. B.B. Wolf”
We want to wish our Michigan bands, and all the others competing, the best of luck this weekend.