Rockford High School’s Carlson-Munger Stadium will host 23 high school marching bands Saturday for the Michigan Competing Band Association’s Rockford Invitational. Gates open at noon, with the first performance scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $13; student and senior tickets are $11, and children under 4 are admitted free. The competition spans five enrollment-based flights and ends with a 9:33 p.m. exhibition by the 185-member host band.
The event schedule and logistics were reported by MLive.com. Tickets are available for cash or card at the gate. Before the MCBA competition, a separate Scholastic marching band event begins at 10:25 a.m. with Hartford, River Valley, Olivet, Oakridge, Central Montcalm, Kelloggsville, Three Rivers, Wayland Union, Otsego, Kenowa Hills and Grand Haven.
How the Flights Break Down
The afternoon schedule opens with Flight IV: Ionia at 2:30 p.m., Edwardsburg at 2:44 p.m., Godwin Heights at 2:58 p.m. and Sparta at 3:12 p.m. Flight II follows, with Flushing at 3:26 p.m., Northview at 3:40 p.m. and Jenison at 3:54 p.m.
Flight V fills much of the late-afternoon lineup: Buchanan performs at 4:22 p.m., Belding at 4:36 p.m., Grant at 4:50 p.m., Allegan at 5:04 p.m., Orchard View at 5:18 p.m., Tri County at 5:32 p.m., Watervliet at 5:46 p.m. and Hazel Park at 6:00 p.m. Awards for Flights IV, II and V are scheduled for 6:15 p.m., ahead of the evening flights.
Evening Flights and the Rockford Exhibition
The evening’s Flight III performances start with Cedar Springs at 7:55 p.m., followed by Holland at 8:09 p.m., Plainwell at 8:23 p.m., Reeths-Puffer at 8:37 p.m. and Mt. Pleasant at 8:51 p.m. Flight I follows: Grandville at 9:05 p.m. and Hudsonville at 9:19 p.m. Rockford is scheduled for 9:33 p.m. in an exhibition performance outside the competition; awards for Flights III and I are set for 9:50 p.m.
Rockford’s exhibition, Bump in the Night, follows the theme of what happens after the lights go out. The show includes Neptune by Gustav Holst, Haunted Objects and Sasparilla by John Mackey, and Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell, according to the MLive report. Brian Phillips and Mary Claire Reynolds direct the 185-member band, with drum majors James Felt, Mia Helmholdt, Emerson Lapus and Xavier Pamenter. Saturday is Rockford’s first competition of the 2026 marching season; the band performed the show at Jenison High School on Sept. 19 ahead of the broader MCBA schedule.
Who's Judging the Competition
The judging roster lists Brian Topolewski and Pat Flynn for music, Nathan Gropp and Tony Cimino for visual, and Phil Haines and Blair Kuhn for general effect. Mark Lopez will judge percussion and Michelle Langley-Hart will judge color guard.
How MCBA flights and scoring work
The Michigan Competing Band Association assigns bands to flights based on student enrollment and balances the number of bands in each flight as much as its rules allow. Its scoring system allocates 10% each to music field and visual field, and 20% each to music ensemble, visual ensemble, music general effect and visual general effect, for a total of 100%. Rockford’s scheduled exhibition is separate from its competitive results. The program’s official records say Rockford finished second in Flight I at the MCBA State Championship Finals at Ford Field in Detroit on Nov. 1, 2025.
The 2026 MCBA season began at Jenison High School on Sept. 19 and is scheduled to conclude with the state championship at Ford Field on Nov. 7.
A Season-Long Circuit for West Michigan Bands
Several West Michigan bands arrive in Rockford after earlier fall competitions. Reeths-Puffer competed at the Jenison Invitational, a Scholastic event at Grand Haven and the Grandville Invitational, according to a separate MLive report. Watervliet, an MCBA participant since 2002, has won two Flight V state championships, in 2023 and 2025, according to tricityrecord.com. Its 2026 show, Dark Horse, composed by Randall Standridge, continues this weekend, followed by stops at Portage Northern on Oct. 24 and the state preliminary at West Ottawa on Oct. 31 before the Ford Field finale.
