The Norwich Marching Band performing at the Memorial Day ceremony earlier this year. On Sunday, October 30, the Norwich Marching Band will be competing at the New York State Field Band Conference in Syracuse among dozens of other schools from across New York State, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Genter)

SYRACUSE — The New York State Field Band Conference (NYSFBC) will hold its championship show on Sunday, October 30 at the JMA Dome in Syracuse. This championship competition will bring together over 50 of the finest high school marching bands in the northeastern United States.

The New York State Field Band Conference Championship show is the culmination of an eight-week season which features nearly 60 bands in 34 regional competitions throughout the state. Band members, directors, staff members, and boosters from each of the competing schools will have spent countless hours preparing for this prestigious event.

Bands are divided into six different classifications based on school size and past competitive experience. Each band in the championship show will perform a musical and visual show lasting about ten minutes for a panel of ten judges. The judges will score and rank each band within its class. Each band will receive a plaque and the highest scoring New York State band in each class will take home the coveted Governor’s Cup.

The bands in the championship show will represent nearly every region of the state, as well as one band from New Jersey. The championship show will get underway at 8 a.m. with marching bands in the Large School 3 Class. Bands in this class will include Auburn, Copiague, East Ramapo, Greece, Hilton, Indian River, Rome Free Academy, Sachem, and Walt Whitman.

At about 10 a.m. bands in the Large School 2 Class will take the field. Competing in this class will be Corning-Painted Post, Hicksville, Huntington, Kingston, Orchard Park, Webster, and West Seneca.

Awards for those two classes will begin just after 11:30 a.m.

Bands in the Small School Class 3 will compete starting at about 12:15 p.m. Included in this class will be Division Avenue, Falconer-Frewsburg, Floral Park, Johnson City, Jordan-Elbridge, LeRoy, Marcus Whitman, Nyack, Pioneer, Southern Tioga, PA, and Union-Endicott.

Just after 2:30 p.m. the bands in Small School Class 2 will compete. Bands in this class will be Iroquois, PA; Midland Park, NJ; Mohonasen; Northwestern, PA; Norwich; Phoenix; Roslyn; Vestal; and Westmoreland.

The awards ceremony for those two classes will take place at about 4:45 p.m.

Starting at 5:45 p.m. will be the following competitors in Small School Class 1: Central Square, East Irondequoit, East Syracuse, Minoa, Horseheads, Malverne, Medina, Mineola, New Hartford, and Oswego.

Finishing off the day-long competition beginning at about 7:45 p.m. will be the bands in the National Class. Set to compete will be bands from Arlington, Baldwinsville, Brentwood, Cicero-North Syracuse, Jamestown, Lancaster, Liverpool, Victor, and West Genesee. Following that will be the awards for the Small School 1 and National Class bands.

The University of Buffalo Marching Band will give an exhibition performance at about 4:30 p.m. and the final championship show performance will be an exhibition by the Syracuse University Marching Band at about 9:45 p.m.

Presale tickets for the New York State Field Band Conference Championships may be purchased online via nysfbc.org/nysfbc-2022-championships/w. Advanced tickets will be sold at $23 for adults and $16 for seniors 65 and older, and students 18 and under.

Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the event at the JMA Dome and are priced $25 for adults and $18 for seniors and students. The tickets are good for the entire day of the competition.

Additional information about the New York State Field Band Conference Championship show, including exact performance times for each band, as well as results from the regular season contests and a history of the conference may be found by visiting nysfbc.org.

-Information provided by NYSFBC