The fifth annual "Greeneville Band Classic" will be held on Saturday, Oct. 4, on Pioneer Field at Tusculum College.

The marching band competition hosted by the Greeneville High School Band Boosters will feature bands from 15 high schools in the region, including those of Chuckey-Doak, West Greene and South Greene high schools.

North Greene High School's band will perform the National Anthem.

Greeneville High School will be the exhibition band.

Participating bands include a total of approximately 1,400 students, representing schools from Class A to Class AAAA with a wide range of band sounds and marching techniques.

A press release from event organizers said that the event has earned a respectable reputation among some of the most competitive high school marching bands in the tri-state region of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.

After each band performs in the competition, the students will move from Pioneer Field into the indoor practice facility to be critiqued by a clinician band director.

The National Anthem by NGHS will start the event at 1:35 p.m. The first competitor takes the field at 1:50 p.m.

The day will conclude with an exhibition performance by the award-winning GHS marching band at 7:50 p.m., followed by the award presentations at 8:30 p.m.

The awards include two Grand Champion Division winners and a Festival Champion for 2008.

"The amount of talent, enthusiasm, and energy generated by these high school band students is impossible to measure. We hope the community will set aside this day to treat themselves to all that this festival has to offer," the press release said.

All city and county middle school band students are receiving free admission tickets to the festival, compliments of the Greeneville High School Band Boosters.

Gates open at 11 a.m.

Admission is $5 for adults, and children ages 5 and under are free.

For more information, go to the Greeneville Band Classic Web site www.gcschools.net/tusculum/band/main.htm