The 500 Festival, a nonprofit organization providing life-enriching events and programs that celebrate the spirit and legacy of the Indianapolis 500, has selected 14 marching bands from across the U.S. to perform in the 66th AES 500 Festival Parade, on Saturday, May 28 in downtown Indianapolis. The Bi-County Marching Band, comprised of marching bands from Marshall and Starke Counties, has been invited to perform and help celebrate this year’s theme, Back to Traditions. Racing Forward.
Plymouth High School Band Director said, “We have organized and merged all nine high schools in our two counties into the “All-Marshall/Starke Bi-County Marching Band” and will be marching as a single unit in the Indianapolis 500 Parade in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday, May 28th!” He continued, “I’m so excited for this partnership because only 5 of the 9 schools have a competitive marching program and this allows all our schools to come together to experience the excitement of performing in a 350+ member band. Many of these kids have never marched in a parade before or had a true marching band experience.”
Ames said, “Coming together will be the bands from Plymouth, Bremen, LaVille, Triton, Argos, Culver, Oregon-Davis, Knox, and North Judson San-Pierre. I am beyond excited for these kids to have this opportunity and experience and glad that our local schools can partner together for this. Each band will be wearing their hometown uniforms representing their individual programs.”
Mr. Ames said he wrote a grant proposal and all of the matching flags for the guard are sponsored by the Marshall County Community Foundation.
On the day before the Indianapolis 500, these 14 nationally recognized bands will march the streets of downtown Indianapolis for one of the nation’s largest parades, the AES 500 Festival Parade. The selected marching bands will perform for more than 200,000 spectators lining the 2-mile parade route. An additional one million TV viewers from around the country will tune in to the AES 500 Festival Parade’s Indianapolis market broadcast on WTHR, Channel 13 and national broadcast on Peacock.
Band line up for the 2022 AES 500 Festival Parade:
· Anderson High School Marching Highlanders (Anderson, Ind.)
· Bi-County Marching Band, (Marshall County, Starke County, Ind.)
· Cincinnati Tradition Drum and Bugle Corps (Fairfield, Ohio)
· Clark County High School Marching Indians (Kahoka, Mo.)
· Indiana All-Star Marching Band, National Band Association (Zionsville, Ind.)
· Indianapolis Public Schools All City Marching Band (Indianapolis, Ind.)
· Jac-Cen-Del High School Band, Flag Corps, and Dance Team (Osgood, Ind.)
· Lewis Cass Marching Kings, Lewis Cass High School (Walton, Ind.)
· Marching Lancers, Belleville East High School (Belleville, Ill.)
· Marching Braves, Maconaquah High School (Bunker Hill, Ind.)
· Purdue “All-American” Marching Band, Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.)
· Speedway 500 Regiment, Speedway High School (Speedway, Ind.)
· The Pride of Portage Marching Band, Portage High School (Portage, Ind.)
· 38th Infantry Division Band, Indiana National Guard (Indianapolis, Ind.)
“The 500 is honored to host these talented bands as part of the 2022 AES 500 Festival Parade, a tradition we have dearly missed the past two years,” said Bob Bryant, president and CEO of the 500 Festival. “We are thrilled to have these bands fill the streets of downtown Indianapolis with music in celebration of the return of race weekend’s biggest celebration.”
One of the 500 Festival’s original events, the AES 500 Festival Parade is one of the nation’s largest, most respected parades, consistently earning national acclaim alongside the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. More than 200,000 people will line the streets of downtown Indianapolis to experience the magic, fanfare, and excitement of the AES 500 Festival Parade. An iconic race-weekend tradition, the AES 500 Festival Parade will feature spectacular floats, larger-than-life helium balloons, marching bands from across the country, celebrities and everyday heroes, and the 33 drivers that will be competing in the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
The 2022 AES 500 Festival Parade will take place on Saturday, May 28, with festivities starting at 11:45 a.m. ET in downtown Indianapolis, and the Parade starting at noon.
AES 500 Festival Parade tickets can be purchased at 500festival.com/tickets or by calling (317) 614-6400. The AES 500 Festival Parade will be broadcast to the Indianapolis market on WTHR, Channel 13 and nationally on Peacock.
For more information about the AES 500 Festival Parade, please visit 500festival.com/parade
