Fort Wayne, IN
8The Embassy Theatre: five Championships from 2015, and home again since 2025.
Loading...
Loading...
Chapter two
For its first decade the Championships moved every spring, hosted by whichever band would take it on. Then came the return visits, the first multi-year home across the river from Louisville, and the long tenancies at the Embassy Theatre in Fort Wayne and the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. 1983 to 2026, this is where the association has gathered.
Larger discs have hosted more often; the number is how many times. Hover a city for its name and years, click it to jump to its card.
The Championships in order, with the number of bands that came.
Bars are band counts. No Championships were held in 2020 and 2021.
Most-visited first. Each year links to that Championships' results. Until 2002 a member band hosted and ran the contest; since then NABBA has run it itself.
The Embassy Theatre: five Championships from 2015, and home again since 2025.
Dublin and Columbus together. The Brass Band of Columbus hosted in 1987, and the Championships came back to central Ohio in 1992, 1996 and 2000; the first Reading Band met in Dublin in 1992.
Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, across the river, became the first multi-year home in 2006. The 25th Championships were held there in 2007, and Louisville followed in 2008 and 2009.
Where it began. Perry Watson's NC State British Brass Band hosted the first Championships on April 23, 1983, and the meeting the next morning founded the association. NABBA came back in 1994 and 2010.
2002 was the first Championships NABBA ran itself rather than a host band, under president Anita Cocker Hunt, and the year the Championship Section ended in a tie. The Championships came back to Cincinnati in 2012 and 2013.
The Von Braun Center, 2022 to 2024: the first Championships after the pandemic, and in 2023 the largest held to that date.
The Weston Silver Band hosted in 1985, the first Championships in Canada. NABBA returned in 1995 during Bert Myers' Canadian outreach.
The US Army Brass Band hosted in 1993, with a five-judge panel, and again in 2001.
Illinois Brass Band country, 1999 and 2005.
2011 and 2014.
West Chester University hosted the second Championships in 1984.
Hosted by the Bloomington Brass Band in 1986: the Brass Band of Columbus' first entry and first title, and the first soloist awards.
The Atlantic Brass Band hosted in 1988.
The Smoky Mountain British Brass Band, the first champions, hosted in 1989.
River City Brass hosted in 1990, the year Narrabri Shire Band came from Australia to compete.
Eastern Iowa Brass Band country, 1991.
The Sheldon Theatre Brass Band's home, 1997, where the Instant Band first played in exhibition.
1998: the high-water mark of the first fifteen years, the first Solo Contest, and the first contest website.
2003, the year Stavanger Brass Band came from Norway and won.
2004.
Host bands for 1983 to 1990, 1993 and 2001 are from Diana Herak's history; the rest are being confirmed from the printed programmes. If you hosted, or were there, write to history@nabba.org.