Dozens of high school marching bands coming to Lawrence for KU’s 64th annual Band Day and parade

This Saturday marks Kansas University’s 64th annual Band Day, a time for high school bands across the region to converge on the KU campus for a parade and halftime band performance.

Tom Stidham, KU’s associate director of bands, said 35 bands will participate in the parade this year, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday. Bands will march down Massachusetts Street from Seventh Street to South Park.

The bands will then be bused to Memorial Stadium to rehearse for their halftime performance for the football game against Northern Illinois. The game is set for a 6 p.m. kickoff.

In some recent years, the parade had to be canceled after television schedules moved the football game to an earlier 11 a.m. starting time, Stidham said.

“We don’t think many people would show up for a parade at 6 a.m.,” he said.

And he said he would always be surprised at the number of people who would come up and tell him they missed the parade.

They’ll face no such issues this year, though, and KU’s Band/Family Day at the football game will go on as scheduled, parade and all.

“We feel like it’s a real good event for kids to get to see a football game and get a short exposure to the campus and get a sense of the atmosphere of college football,” Stidham said.