The bands will be marching into National City for the third annual Maytime Band Review at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6.
The free event starts at the corner of Plaza Boulevard and A Avenue and on into D Avenue at Kimball Park where an awards ceremony and music festival will take place.
The event was once a staple in the National City community from 1948 through 2004, however it went through a 12-year hiatus before it was revived by a committee in 2016.
Now entering its third year since its revival, the parade will keep a lot of its tradition but have new elements to be more modernized, said Karen Azhocar McManus, president of Maytime Band Review.
“We want to honor the legacy of the Maytime Band Review but we also want to move into the 21st century in that the world has changed,” she said. “We’re continuing to honor the legacy of the Maytime but we are also making it more of a community parade.”
Azhocar McManus said the incorporation of a music festival is the biggest change in modernizing the event.
The parade’s theme this year is Hometown Heroes, where key figures in National City will be honored for the contributions they have made to the city.
“We have so many great nonprofits, great individuals, great agencies who really contribute to our community, we have great elected officials who really care about our community,” she said. “So, what we wanted to do was just say ‘Thank you’ and recognize them.”
Navy sailors will be marching with a navy commander, and World War II veterans from the American Legion will participate in the event.
National City police officers and firefighters will also be part of the parade.
Five bands from high schools throughout San Diego County will be competing in this year’s event. Those schools are Sweetwater Union High School, Castle Park High School, Christian High School, Granite Hills High School and La Costa Canyon High School, which has been part of the parade since the event’s revival three years ago.
Schools will be participating for cash prizes that will go directly into their music program.
First place will earn $1,000; second place $700 and third place $400. Competing schools will get $200 for their participation.
Azhocar McManus said when schools go through budget cuts, usually the music programs are the first to go. She said cash prizes would be used to support music programs.
“The goal of our organization is to keep the music programs alive,” she said.
A panel of five judges will judge competing bands in the quality of music and showmanship.
After the parade, the music festival at Kimball Park will take place at 1 p.m. There’s a long lineup of performers, with the local band Los Shadows being one of the headliners.
There will also be vendors and food trucks.
