The 2015 marching band competition season begins this weekend with an annual tradition in Pella.

The Pella High School Marching Dutch Invitational will feature more than 20 central Iowa bands, including PCM and Knoxville, on Saturday evening.

Senior band member Benjamin Vogel says the Marching Dutch will wrap up the evening as the featured performance, but will not be competing due to their status as the host school. He says that provides the opportunity to get ready for their upcoming judged performances.

“A lot of it for firstcomers and everyone else to get ‘this is now competition season,’” Vogel says. “That way we can do something and get used to the season without being graded for it.”

“So it helps as our kickoff into our real, heavy ‘time to get high scores, time to do well’ part of our season.”

Vogel says their performance entitled “America the Beautiful” is set during World War II domestically.

“We’ve been working on a program that’s about a small town in Iowa going through World War II, and how that’s affected it,” he says.

Gates open at 4 p.m., with admission costing $7 for adults and $4 for students. Click here for a full list of performing bands.