Demopolis High School will host its first Bands on the Rivers Festival tomorrow (Saturday) at noon at the football stadium.

The festival will feature five high schools as well as the DHS band and the band from the University of West Alabama, both of whom will perform as an exhibition.

“This is the first competition that Demopolis has hosted in a long time,” said DHS band director Phil Bonds. “We had a little get-together last year, but it was more of a showcase than a competition. This will be a true competition. We’re looking forward to it, and I think it will be a real good show.”

Concessions will be available, and admission is $5.

“We hope people come out,” Bonds said. “If they came out last year, this will be a much better show, a much bigger show. We’re going to serve hot dogs and hamburgers and soft drinks and candy, and we’ll try to have a good time. We invite people to come have lunch with us and watch the bands and see what it’s about.”

Bands will be broken down into classes for the sake of ratings, with Sweet Water and Berry going to Class A and Hale County, Northridge and Northside being in Class AA, but all bands will compete for overall first-, second- and third-place honors. Ratings for the bands will range from 1 to 4, with 1 being the highest.

Those scheduled to perform — with the time of their performances — include:

Sweet Water High School, noon

Berry High School, 12:20 p.m.

Hale County High School, 12:40 p.m.

Northridge High School, 1 p.m.

Northside High School, 1:20 p.m.

Demopolis High School, 1:40 p.m. (exhibition)

University of West Alabama, 2 p.m. (exhibition)

The awards ceremony will begin at 2:20 p.m.

Demopolis High School will return to competition on Saturday, Oct. 11, at Winfield High School. The band will also perform in the UWA parade on Saturday, Oct. 25.