2025 Event Day Details
Festival of Bands is an exciting day hosted by five local high school bands who also perform in Field and Parade Exhibition: Washington, Roosevelt, O’Gorman, Lincoln, and Jefferson High Schools from Sioux Falls, SD. The organization is dedicated to providing opportunities to its student participants for musical growth through adjudication and association with other quality marching organizations. Supported by over 400 parent volunteers, the Festival of Bands Committee spends more than half a year putting together the elements which make Festival of Bands a success.
Parade and Field Competition details, admission costs and sponsor recognition are included in this article.
2025 Festival of Bands Parade Returns to Downtown Sioux Falls
The parade, which has been held near Covell Lake since 2019, will return to downtown on a one-year pilot program as the organizing committee and the Sioux Falls Police Department navigate a new approach to band staging and employment of enhanced safety measures on the route.
2024 Festival Details
The Sioux Falls High Schools will strike up the bands Saturday, October 5, 2024 as host of the 37th Annual Festival of Bands, USA — one of the nation’s largest marching band events. Considered one of the premier band festivals in the Midwest, this year’s Festival of Bands will feature over 40 bands with more than 4,000 students participating in parade and/or field competition. This event draws as many as 20,000 visitors from South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa to Sioux Falls for a full day of marching activities.
2022 Parade Grand Marshal
The Festival of Bands is honored to welcome Sioux Falls Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jane Stavem, as this year’s Parade Grand Marshal.
2022 Festival Details
Sioux Falls will strike up the bands Saturday, October 1, 2022, as host of the 35th Annual Festival of Bands, USA — one of the nation’s largest marching band events. Considered one of the premier band festivals in the Midwest, this year’s Festival of Bands will feature over 40 bands participating in parade and/or field competition.