TheCollegiate Marching Band Festival, also called theCMBF, is an annual event held inAllentown, Pennsylvania. The festival showcases college and universitymarching bands of all sizes and styles from across theNortheastern United States.
First held in 1996, the event typically takes places in early October atJ. Birney Crum Stadium, a renowned venue for marching band and drum corps performances and the largesthigh school football stadium in theMid-Atlantic United States.
The festival is not a competition, but an opportunity for fans and band members alike to view bands that perform a variety of shows and exhibit different performance styles.
The festival is currently managed by Vivace Productions, Inc. inWest Chester, Pennsylvania.
While many of the participating bands perform contemporary “corps style” shows using roll-step marching, other performance varieties abound.Morgan State University, fromBaltimore, Maryland, performs a high-energy show typical of southernHBCU bands.Lehigh University andPenn State University, both of which have participated in the past, perform traditional "Big Ten" style shows with a high-step marching technique (the coincidence that Penn State is in theBig Ten). Other bands, includingIndiana University of Pennsylvania,Kutztown University of Pennsylvania,West Chester University,The University of Delaware, theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, andBoston University’s Terrier Marching Band have developed unique styles all their own: the corps-style type with the roll-step and other drill techniques.
Celebrating its 21st occurrence in 2016, the festival has a number of traditions, which spectators and performers have come to anticipate on an annual basis.
Order of performance
Vendors
Concessions
Musical Organizations
Additional musical fraternities such asPhi Mu Alpha also congregate at this time.Alumni and members of area drum corps gather and socialize at the event; most notably the Reading Buccaneers gather annually at the end of the event on or near the field. Students, staff, and alumni from the participating bands take this opportunity to commingle with other members and before all the schools depart. Many of the organizations sing their respective hymn/song before departing the festival.
Tubas/Sousaphones
Sunday, September 21, 2003 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, October 10, 2004 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, October 2, 2005 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, October 8, 2006 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, September 30, 2007 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, September 28, 2008 - Order Of Appearance
Sunday, October 4, 2009 - Order Of Appearance
Sunday, October 3, 2010 - Order Of Appearance
Sunday, September 25, 2011 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, September 30, 2012 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, September 29, 2013 - Order of Appearance
Sunday, September 28, 2014 - Order of Appearance