Music like State Champion

The Kentucky State Marching Band Championships are an annual contest held by the Kentucky Music Educators Association that takes place each fall over the course of several weeks to determine the Kentucky high school marching band state champion in five respective classes.

The Kentucky State Marching Band Championships first began in 1986, when the Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) first sponsored the event, with the finals held at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington. Before 1986, several other contests claimed to be the Kentucky state championship, such as Murray State's "Festival of Champions" and Middle Tennessee State University's "Contest of Champions." The first state champions were George Rogers Clark High School (4A), Glasgow High School (3A), Bremen High School (2A), and Adair County High School (1A). Also that year, 4A champion George Rogers Clark was awarded the Overall Grand Champion title. However, this "overall champion" concept was discarded after the first year, and since then state champions have been considered by the association to be equal in stature.