The Armuchee High School Marching Band will host its 5th annual Armuchee Invitational Marching Contest and Festival this Saturday, September 29, 2012 at Armuchee High School. The event has grown from hosting only seven band programs in its first year to an expected 21 bands this year.

Each of the four county high schools will participate in the festival. Pepperell High, Model High, and Coosa High will compete and Armuchee High School will play an exhibition performance as the host band.

There are bands scheduled to attend from all over the state this year including groups from Marietta, Decatur, Buford, and Carrollton. One school will make the trip from Knoxville, Tennessee to compete in the Armuchee Invitational.

"We are expecting between 3,000 and 4,000 band members, spectators, and community members to be in attendance throughout the day," stated Seth Bates, band director at Armuchee High School. "This is the major fund raising event for Armuchee High School's band program and we will be using the entire Armuchee High campus during this year's festival."

The activities will begin at 10:00 am with the Star Spangled Banner performed by Alumni of the Armuchee High School band program. The alumni group will be directed by Tom Moore, Armuchee Middle School Band Director.

The entry fee for the Armuchee Invitational will be $7.00. Children under six will be admitted free. Parking will be located across the street at The Church at Northside. Shuttle buses will take visitors from the parking area to the drop-off location on the Armuchee High School campus. All proceeds benefit the Armuchee High School band program.

The festival portion of the Armuchee Invitational will be first on the schedule and will rate groups on their performance only. Color guards, percussion, drum majors, dance lines, and majorettes will each receive a rating of either Superior, Excellent, Good, or Fair. Bands will be judged by using an Olympic-style panel of five judges.

The highest and lowest ratings will be dropped and the remaining three ratings will be averaged for the final overall rating. The competition portion will rate groups on their performance and compare their score numerically to other groups in their classification.

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