Buckhannon mayor expects large crowds as city prepares to welcome international marching band competition – WV MetroNews

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — The City of Buckhannon is preparing to welcome thousands of international travelers for the start of next week’s World Association of Marching Show Bands 2023 competition.

“We want to show the world our West Virginia hospitality,” Buckhannon Mayor Robbie Skinner told MetroNews Thursday.

The competition will be held Monday and runs through July 24 on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College. Buckhannon was selected out of a number of other locations worldwide to host the event.

It will be the second time in 26 years the competition will take place in the United States and the first time on the East Coast. The only other time it was held in the U.S. was in 2017 in Palm Springs, Ca. The 2020 and 2021 world competitions were canceled due to COVID-19. Last year’s competition was held in Thailand.

Known as the “Superbowl of Marching Bands,” organizers said 19 bands representing 13 counties will be competing next week with performances in the areas off jazz, symphonic, percussion, auxiliary dance and more.

There will also be a number of events taking place in downtown Buckhannon which is drawing a lot of out-of-town visitors, the mayor said.

“Our hotels here locally here are full. Weston, Clarksburg, Elkins, our surrounding communities and I believe there are even hotel rooms as far as Wheeling that have folks staying there to come over to Buckhannon for the week’s festivities,” Skinner said.

Shops and restaurants are also beefing up their staff in preparation for large crowds all week, Skinner said.

“We have a lot of shopping opportunities downtown so all of our stores and restaurants are ready to go. They’ve got inventory, they’ve called all hands-on deck as far as servers go, so we’re ready,” the mayor said.

Opening ceremonies will include a performance by country music artist Lee Greenwood on Wednesday, July 19 at Wesleyan’s Ross Field. There will be a grand feature parade through the downtown on Saturday, July 22.

Skinner said there will also be a car show on Main Street along with different vendors beginning at 6 p.m. Monday, July 17. A carnival at Jawbone Park takes place all week.

The U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps will perform on Sunday, July 23 from Ross Field ahead of closing ceremonies.

Most ticket prices are around $10-$20 depending on the event. Ticket information and the full schedule can be found on the World Association of Marching Show Bands’ website.