2025 Wheaton Arts Parade

By Leif Lesperance

On Saturday, Oct. 24, hundreds of students from twelve marching bands across Montgomery County gathered at Einstein to perform at the 2025 Marching Band Showcase. The event featured performances by MCPS high school marching bands from schools like Damascus, Blake, Blair, Rockville, Springbrook, and more, as well as two special performances from MCPS middle schoolers and the University of Maryland’s Mighty Sound of Maryland.

The annual event was held at Einstein for the second year in a row after 2024’s success, but high schools have been rotating the honor of hosting over the past four years, plus its inaugural year in 2019, before it was paused due to the pandemic. “It’s a huge sense of pride to create a space that makes everyone feel excited and welcome to do their thing, from a single stand tune to a full show,” said Gregory Casement, director of Einstein’s Titan Marching Band and co-creator of the MCPS Marching Band Showcase. “Having [Einstein band members] be able to be the guides and be the hosts… for [other schools] to see the students of Einstein, not just the musicians, is really cool.”

Student musicians from various middle schools, including Sligo, Loiederman, and Newport Mill, opened the event by playing the national anthem. The University of Maryland’s marching band also attended, performing a halftime show that featured many Halloween hits. “It was really nice to see something that we all do… But taken to the next level in a college setting where they have more resources and funding,” said Emily Markin, one of the Einstein Titan Marching Band’s two drum majors, “it encourages people to go into marching band.”

For the final performance of the day, each high school marching band came together on the field at once to play a song as one band. Together, hundreds of student musicians played and danced to “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk The Moon. The students were organized on the field by instruments, rather than schools, allowing student marchers to stand together with fellow musicians from all around the county.

The showcase is a point of connection between marching students, with students from completely different schools shouting encouragement, sending air grams, and complimenting each other as though they were close friends. “It’s cool to… connect over this mutual passion that we all have,” said Markin. The camaraderie between instrument sections is clear, especially during the massed band.

For marching bands like Einstein’s, which don’t go to competitions, the showcase is one of the only opportunities available for marching students to see other bands perform at an event where they are the focus. “I like having the opportunity to see a bunch of different bands in that showcase environment, because it’s cool to be able to see them all in their element,” said Markin. It also allows bands to show off their own work. “[Other bands] don’t really get to see what we do, and us being the last group [to perform], we have a full audience,” said Casement.

The 2025 Montgomery County Marching Band Showcase was a massive success for both marchers and viewers alike. Information for the 2026 MCPS Marching Band Showcase’s date or host school is not yet available; however, the event is expected to be just as exciting as the last.