Plenty of familiar faces headline one of the early-season midwest Bands of America regionals, as 24 bands from eight different states head to the University of Nothern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for Saturday’s Bands of America Iowa Regional Championship.

The event kicks off bright and early at 9:30 a.m. CT with Grand Rapids (MN), with Prelims running all the way through to about 4:30 p.m. CT, with Baldwin-Woodville (WI) wrapping up competitive performances before an exhibition by UNI’s own marching band.

Finals are set to commence at 7:30 p.m. CT, with the presentation of awards bringing the day-long event to its conclusion around 10:30 p.m. CT.

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Three Big Bands With Big Names

There wasn’t really a 2018 regional that had the same type of geographic setup as Saturday’s Cedar Falls event, so it’s pretty interesting to see the combinaton of groups taking part in this show from all across middle America.  

A small sampling of notable bands certainly stick outs of the deep Saturday setlist, largely due to their recent performance on the Grand Nationals stage.

First off, there’s Blue Springs (MO), which will make its BOA 2019 debut at 10:30 a.m. Blue Springs earned last year’s bronze medal at Grand Nationals, finishing just under two points behind champion Carmel. Blue Springs was also a finalist in 2017, and finished among the top five in 2016. 

This first BOA appearance is far earlier than it was last year for Blue Springs—the Missouri band earned a second-place finish and a score of 91.900 for its first BOA result in 2018, at the St. Louis Super Regional in late October.

Then there’s Marian Catholic (IL). Marian Catholic holds the most BOA Grand National championships of any school, with seven, the most recent coming in 2000. Though the band missed out on a Top 12 spot in 2018, Marian Catholic still holds BOA's longest streak of making Grand National finals.

O’Fallon Township (IL) marks the third and final competitor at this weekend’s event that earned a finalist position at Grand Nationals in 2018. The St. Louis-area band had finished less than a point away from a Top 12 bid in 2017 before pushing right past the threshold last season putting them into national finals for the first time ever. If you recall, O'Fallon Township is the band that has rolled out a tarp covering most of the field for the past few seasons.

As some of the potential contenders on the BOA National stage based on recent years, it’ll be interesting to see how these three fare in this late-September event, setting the tone for what things could look like in October and November. 

All Over the Map

As previously mentioned, eight different states will have representatives at Saturday’s event, with about half coming from either Missouri or Iowa. In total, bands will come each from Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

One of those Missouri bands that isnt Blue Springs achieved finalist positions at the St. Louis Super Regional—Blue Springs South. Also from Missouri, Camdenton was a St. Louis finalist in 2017, placing 14th; Camdenton was also a 2018 Grand National semifinalist.

Morton High School is another competitor heading to Iowa this upcoming weekend. Hailing from Illinois, they also earned a trip to last year’s Finals in St. Louis, plus semifinalist status at 2018’s Grand Nationals, earning 29th place overall and fourth place in the AA classification.