Sioux Falls Is Striking Up the Bands This October

Kickoff to the Marching Band Season

The fall marching band season is underway, which means that all that practice your kids had during the hot summer months was totally worth it! It also means that the competition season has begun too.

Here in Sioux Falls, the Festival of Bands is gearing up for another stellar competition on Saturday, October 3. The whole day kicks off at 8:30 AM, with a fantastic parade in downtown Sioux Falls featuring 27 middle and high school bands from South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.

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Plan Your Parade Day Experience

The parade route will travel north from 12th & Phillips to 6th & Phillips, with the judging and performance area at 7th & Phillips. So, get downtown early, grab a coffee, get to your favorite viewing area, and remember parking is free in the public parking ramps.

This year's Festival of Bands Sioux Falls host schools are: Lincoln, Washington, O'Gorman, Roosevelt, and Jefferson, and you will see them perform in the parade and at the field competition, which follows at Howard Wood Field.

This huge one-day event is truly for families - families who have kids participating and families just looking for a fall day of fun and extraordinary musical entertainment.

A Musical Tradition 39 Years Strong

It is hard to believe that this will be the 39th Annual Festival of Bands and that it all grew out of a group of band parents having pizza and talking about how they could create a major marching band event in Sioux Falls. But after a lot of hard work and volunteer hours, they made it happen.

This major fundraising festival still happens thanks to the volunteer spirit of hard-working band parents, students, and others.

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Support the Cause and Get Your Wristbands

You will need a wristband to get into the field competition, and you can buy them with cash from volunteers at the parade. You can also get them at Howard Wood Field with cash or a credit card. Wristbands are $20 for adults, $10 for students, and kids 5 and under are free. Concessions will also be available.

So, get ready to start your Saturday, October 3,  with the sights and sounds of some seriously talented young musicians. Whether you're a longtime Festival of Bands fan or you've never experienced it before, there's something pretty special about it.

It’s a big, noisy, colorful celebration of music, hard work, and school spirit, and it’s a pretty great way to kick off October in Sioux Falls!