Marching Show Bands Championship To Be Held In Buckhannon

The World Association of Marching Show Bands is having its 2023 Championship in Buckhannon in Upshur County.

Seventeen bands will compete for the international title while three exhibition bands will also perform. Bands compete in areas of concert, field marching performance, drumline, and street parade. 

“Buckhannon rolled their sleeves up and just worked hard to present the town and the infrastructure that we have to the international committee and convince them that Buckhannon would be the perfect place to host the 2023 World Association of Marching Show Bands competition” said Randy Sanders, president of the Buckhannon host committee.

This is the first time in six years the event is hosted in the United States and the first time hosted on the East Coast.

Countries represented are Canada, El Salvador, Germany, Honduras, Ghana, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong, Ireland, and Sweden.

Grammy Award winner Lee Greenwood, known for his song “God Bless the U.S.A.” will perform in the opening ceremony on July 19 and the U.S. Marine Drumline and Bugle Corps will perform for the official closing ceremony July 23 at 7pm.  

The competition will take place July 17-24.