Twenty-two bands and more than 2,025 students will be competing in the 39th annual Peach State Marching Festival and Competition on Saturday.

The event will take place at Barron Stadium and will include bands from all across North Georgia, Tennessee, Northeast Alabama and Mississippi.

The festival-portion of the day will start at 12:30 p.m. All-day admission is $7.

The Rome Middle and Rome High bands will perform during the event as exhibition bands.

Some of the area schools participating include Pepperell, Model, Cass, LaFayette, Gordon Lee, Haralson County, Northwest Whitfield and Southeast Whitfield.

“Each band will have a 15 minute time frame to enter Barron Stadium, do their performance and then exit Barron Stadium,” said Richard Dixon, executive director of the event. “The larger bands will have 20 minutes to spend on their limit.”

Each performance during the competition-portion will be judged on a 100-point scale by five band judges.

Awards will be presented at 10 p.m. Festival proceeds will be used to pay for expenses of the band programs in Rome City Schools. This is the major fundraising project for the Rome Band Boosters.

Jonathon Dennis, an intern with the Rome News-Tribune, is a student at Pepperell High School.