I hope every has had as good of a Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving that they could possibly have. I know I’m very thankful for my Philadelphia Freedom Band family, as well as my extended Pride Bands family, which includes every single one of you. I’m currently traveling for Thanksgiving, and am not familiar with Salesforce yet, so please bear with me if this email lacks the polish it would have if I was able to run everything by our Creative Club!
It’s already a been a month since Something Wicked happened in Fort Lauderdale, which means it’s time for Philly to kick into high gear!! The 2026 Pride Bands Alliance National Conference: Band Things Happen in Philadelphia is less than six months away!
Registration is booming – BUT early registration is almost over. The last chance to register for the conference at the early-bird rate is Sunday November 30! Starting December 1, the registration fee goes up to $120. Sure, it’s “only” an extra $20, but that’d get you a hoagie and either a citywide or a water-ice [pronounced wooderice] (maybe both depending on the shop), so that’s not nothing!
Note: Pride Bands Alliance directly handles scholarships. Scholarships are now open! Please submit your completed online application, and forward one letter of recommendation from a member of your band’s leadership team or board of directors to [email protected] by Dec 20, 2025, at 11:59pm.
We will have three main methods of distributing information as we prepare for the conference. The first and primary one is this email group. These emails will also be available on the conference website, 2026.pridebands.org, for full visibility. The second is a private Facebook group, located here. This is the same as the last few conferences. We will also be rolling out a Discord group in the near future. Pride Bands Alliance has made the decision to move away from Facebook. We will keep both the Facebook group and the discord group up-to-date.
Below are the front and back of the cards distributed in Fort Lauderdale to encourage people to register. I also have PDF variants. These are both available on the Facebook group, or email [email protected] and we will get the files to you as quickly as possible.
Since this is the first email, let’s just lay out the basics. Band Things Happen in Philadelphia will take place May 21-May 25, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All of our events are ventrally located in the Center City area, with the host hotel – Doubletree by Hilton Center City Philadelphia, located about 4 blocks due south of City Hall at the intersection of Broad and Locust Streets. All rehearsals, most socials, and the Jazz/Big Band performance will be at the host hotel. Our pep/marching event is planned to start on the north side of City Hall, and meander at a casual stroll for about 4-6 blocks before ending at a street festival for Disability Pride of Pennsylvania. The conference will culminate with two concert bands performing in the gorgeous Marian Anderson Hall, located inside the Kimmel Center. This 2,500 seat venue is the same one the Philadelphia Orchestra performs in.
Music
First and foremost, we come together to make music. And the 2026 conference will be no different. Music for Jazz and Concert Bands have not been finalized, but each concert band will play one commissioned piece. Melissa Dunphy has composed a piece for the Museum of the American Revolution about an illicit romance involving Baron Wilhelm Von Steuben, a historical figure from the Revolutionary War titled “Forbidden”. Michael J Evans has composed a piece tentatively titled “Power and Pride”, which was commissioned by Philadelphia Freedom Band for the 2026 Conference.
Most, if not all, songs have been finalized for Marching/Pep band . Songs will mostly involve artists from the area or with strong ties to the area. Sabrina Carpenter and Pink are from Montgomery County. Taylor Swift is from Berks County (Reading, PA). Philadelphia Freedom Band regularly participates in Asbury Park Pride in New Jersey, which is also where Bruce Springsteen made a name for himself. Boyz II Men and Sister Sledge are both from Philadelphia, and the most famous theme song from the long-running Soul Train is literally called TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia). Elton John wrote a song all about Philadelphia Freedom, and what is more iconically Philly than the anthem played while some boxer guy ran up a bunch of stairs (and yes, you will be able to see them from where we will be playing these songs).
I hope to have the songs for the other ensembles finalized soon. Our color guard already has all the songs and is hard at work getting routines together. Once they are set, we will begin to send video of the routines to everyone who has registered for color guard.
Registration
Last thing to bring up in this email is a quick note of where we are on registration. As of 8:00pm on 11/28/25, a total of 192 people are registered for the 2026 Conference. 166 plan to participate in concert band, and 102 for marching band. Note: each concert band will be capped at 150 plus percussion. Marching band will have no cap. Since Jazz Band is not inherently open to all, we will be working on the backend to finalize that arrangement.
As of yet, we have not gotten any registrations from the three new Bands in Formation – Fort Wayne Pride Bands, Nashville Harmony Pride Band, and Iowa Pride Ensembles. They have been added as possible selections on the registration page, and I look forward to adding them to the spreadsheet. A little healthy competition is always fun, so here’s where registration stands for each Pride Bands member band:
We will be sending more information in the near future. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to [email protected] . I am just one person, but multiple people have eyes on that account.
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you very soon!!
Ryan Fitzpatrick
He/Him/His
2026 Band Things Happen Conference Chair
Philadelphia Freedom Band