BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia community will host an international marching band competition next year.
The World Association of Marching Show Bands will hold the championship event in Buckhannon from July 17 to 24, 2023.
“We are absolutely thrilled to bring this event to West Virginia and to heighten the exposure of our beautiful region and state to new audiences,” Randy Sanders, president of the association’s Buckhannon host committee, said in a statement.
Applications have been submitted so far by 47 bands from 24 nations to compete in several disciplines, including marching performance, jazz, symphonic, percussion and auxiliary dance.
This year’s event will be held July 11 to 16 in Bangkok, Thailand. The 2020 and 2021 championships were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The statement said the only other time in the event’s 26-year history that the competition was held in the United States was in Palm Springs, California, in 2017.