A University of Wisconsin Band event
which has remained one of the most popular and colorful
attractions held in Camp Randall each year is High School Band
Day, which is presented early each football season. The first
recorded evidence of Band Day in Madison indicates it began in
1935 when 15 Wisconsin high school bands were invited to campus to
take part in a marching competition on Saturday morning and then
cap the day off with a football game at Camp Randall Stadium that
afternoon. The winning band of the morning competition also got
the privilege of performing at half-time. Each band paraded in the
stadium before the game and combined with the Wisconsin Band in
the playing of the National Anthem.
In 1937, Band Day was discontinued because the football team was filling the stands with fans and not guest musicians. In 1959, Camp Randall Stadium underwent major reconstruction and in 1960, the Athletic Board reinstated Band Day, limiting it to 4,000 high school musicians who were to be placed in the north end zone throughout the game. From here the bands were united into one massive band and performed several musical selections to the delight of Badger fans. Then, in 1980, the bands were moved to the south end zone, in front of the Field House, where it was felt that both the view and the sound would be enhanced for the spectators.
Participation in High School Band Day remains by invitation only. Each May, the high school of every member of the previous season's Marching Band receives a special letter from the Band Department encouraging them to participate and "come to Madison for Band Day."